Charlotte Egan, a principal at Booth Brown Legal at Dubbo, says her accountant father was a "great believer in the importance of reading" for people from all walks of life.

"To see Dad's legacy championing that cause is wonderful and sometimes quite emotional," the solicitor told the Daily Liberal.

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Ms Egan will visit the 2021 Michael Egan Memorial Book Fair from May 1 out of respect for her father but also to bag some books.

"I love reading," she said. "Something I'm sure he is partly to thank for. I always have a book on the go and have several large bookshelves that are all weighed down.

"I love attending the book fair too. I always go with the intention of only buying a couple of books but always seem to walk out with at least a bag full."

Ms Egan has fond memories of "sitting with Dad as a girl reading to him or listening to him read to me"

" As I got older, we didn't necessarily talk as much about what we were reading but I would often find that he would then read things after I had finished them, so we could then talk about them," she said.

"I think both my brother Benjamin and I recognise the importance and value Dad placed on reading and have inherited that to some extent. The escape that reading provides is definitely something he taught me."

Michael Egan, who died from cancer in 2007 at the age of 49, was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Dubbo Macquarie which launched the book fair in 2010.

It has run annually except for 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to events which drew crowds. Up to 1500 people traditionally attend the book fair which offers up books for young and old.

In 2021, more than 25,000 books will be available at the "COVID Safe" book fair in the Centenary Pavilion at Dubbo Showground.

Its doors will be open from 8am to 4 pm on May 1 and 9am to 1pm on May 2. Entry will be by gold coin donation and use of a QR code.

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