Calgary writer Natalie Sue grew up sneaking her parents’ books and joining her mother at community book sales, where they filled suitcases for summer reading. About 10 years ago, shortly after her daughter was born and long before her debut novel I Hope This Finds You Well was released, Natalie Sue took in her first Calgary Reads Big Book Sale at the Calgary Curling Club. With the sheer volume and variety of gently used books filling dozens of tables (and boxes below), she was hooked.

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For Natalie, it’s a way to carry on traditions—of raising a reader, of keeping a house filled with books, of nurturing a kind of love affair with books.

Like thousands of other book-lovers, every spring, Natalie enters the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale, and its rows and rows of more than 200,000 books, and begins the treasure hunt.

“I love digging through the older books, especially all the books I loved as a child,” she says, citing titles like Boxcar Children and Anne of Green Gables, though she was a precocious reader who began reading her mom and dad’s true crime books before she was 10 years old.

“I also love to look through the rare books. That’s my favourite part.”

“I also love books as objects.”

One of her favourite finds from the 2025 book sale was a 1930’s schoolbook, required reading for home economics students.

From the collectibles section at the very back of the Curling Club, Natalie Sue might wander the middle aisles and contemporary fiction, keeping an eye on her daughter, who is currently a big fan of graphic novels.

“It’s so great that there’s a banned books table. I always find interesting reads there,” she says, adding she’s often equally lucky in fiction and romance sections. “There are just so many books, and a lot of new titles.”

Natalie also takes her time in the mystery aisle.

What was it like, happening upon her own novel, I Hope This Finds You Well, at last year’s sale?

“I was just kind of looking through books, not even thinking about my own book, and I saw someone standing there, holding it, and then they put it back. Then I noticed someone else pick it up and put it in their bin, and that was nice to see. I didn’t want to walk over and creep them out, but I thought, I hope you enjoy it!”

Natalie’s debut novel was released in 2024 to wide acclaim. In 2025, the book was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Given the timing, there may be a few more copies at the 2026 Calgary Reads Big Book Sale, May 8-17—and in 2027, readers will also have the chance to come upon Natalie’s second novel.

You’ll Love it Here, set for release in August, features an ensemble ‘found family’ cast navigating timely issues (gentrification, housing affordability) with humour amidst a backdrop of contemporary Calgary.

“I do like to set books in Calgary,” says Natalie, who has lived here on and off since she was eight years old. She went to high school and has spent most of her adult life in Calgary. “I used to do it by default, but now I do it on purpose. The way people live in a city and how a city works is universal, but I think it’s kind of charming for locals to read a book set in Calgary.”

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The same year her first book came out, Natalie also quietly became connected to Calgary’s reading community as a Little Free Library steward.

Her publisher suggestedthat authors could support Little Free Library (LFL) Day. She mentioned to her husband their idea of taking a picture of a gifted copy of I Hope This Finds You Well at an LFL.

“He said,‘Let’s do one better. You’ve always wanted a Little Free Library. Let’s build one.’”

Now, just steps from their front door, is an LFL that’s a replica of their own home, complete with lights. Since her own house is often overflowing with books, she says it’sa wonderful way to support their next journey.

“Having a placeto pass along the books I read is great, and I come upon a lot of awesome reads there myself.”

Natalie is delighted to learn that a portion of Calgary Reads Big Book Sale proceeds supports the Book Bank, where LFL stewards and volunteers from across the city can drop in to sustain Calgary’s dozens of official Little Free Libraries. Calgary Reads Big Book Sale was also created as a fundraiser to support Calgary Reads, the early literacy non-profit which brought the very first LFL to Calgary.

Now Natalie also shops the sale for books to add to her LFL.

For the many ways Calgary Reads Big Book Sale, now in its 22nd year, spreads the joy of reading, Natalie says: “I just love the sale. It offers so much access to reading.”

Are you a book-lover? Then you have to learn all about how, when and where to shop this beloved Calgary book sale!

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