This summer, a group of keen readers met at a library in Mogadishu, Somalia. They were there to have a browse and further their knowledge. But they were reading people, not books.

Beginning in Denmark in 2000, the Human Library now has projects in more than 80 countries. The concept is simple: readers can borrow a real person for 30 minutes, listen to their story, and ask questions. Thousands of people across the world have now ‘read’ stories from the library. ‘Books’ include Brain Damaged, Alcoholic, Polyamorous, Young Single Mother and Naturist.

“There are so many issues we are not dealing with as a society,” says founder Ronni Abergel. “Refugees, mental health, homelessness, sexuality, alcoholism, the list goes on. How often do you get to have an honest conversation with someone who is affected by such things?”

It was eye-opening for me as a ‘book’, as much as it was for my readers to learn my story

Noura Søborg is another title in the library. A refugee and feminist, she fled Syria in 2011 and settled in Copenhagen. “Taking part in the Human Library allowed me not only to share my own story, but it gave me insight into the new society I was living in, the people I was newly surrounded by.

Muffe Vulnuz, also known as the Extreme Body Modified book, also features in the Human Library

“It was eye-opening for me as a ‘book’, as much as it was for my readers to learn my story.”

Fellow title Katy Jon Went (Asexual Non-Binary Bipolar) agrees that the experience is a two-way street. “It is unusual because the book can answer back. I find very illuminating the questions your reader wants to ask. The Human Library helps me be seen as an individual, and promotes understanding about my life.”

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Library sessions have now taken place in Australia, Iceland, Finland, Romania, Slovenia, Belgium and the Netherlands, among other countries. The Human Library partners with universities, businesses and NGOs including Amnesty and Crisis. The Human Library is currently running a series of events in the UK entitled Open Your World, featuring some of the library’s ‘bestsellers’.

“Libraries are the last neutral spaces in society, places where there is no agenda, where people can be free to ask what they want. It’s amazing the conversations that can flow from that,” says Abergel.

“All we ask is that they return our books in the same condition they found them.”

Photos: the Human Library

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The post People take the place of books in the global Human Library appeared first on Positive News.

Featuring interviews with a diverse selection of talented women, free copies of The Female Lead will be sent to 18,000 schools in the UK and the US. Those behind the project aim to create a broader spectrum of female role models for both girls and boys.

The book includes interviews with politicians, artists, teachers, sportswomen, engineers and journalists. They include pioneering firefighter Brenda Berkman, world champion rock climber Ashima Shiraishi, ballerina Michaela DePrince, and Scottish National Party politician Mhairi Black. When she was 20, Black went from working in a fish and chip shop to becoming the youngest MP to be elected in Britain since 1667.

The sheer breadth and diversity of personal stories showcased in the book demonstrates that ambition looks and feels different for different people

The book’s creator, Edwina Dunn, wants to foster ambition and self-belief in young women. “The sheer breadth and diversity of personal stories showcased in the book demonstrates that ambition looks and feels different for different people,” she says.

The book is accompanied by teaching resources that were created in conjunction with The Mulberry School. The comprehensive, in Tower Hamlets, London, is among the UK’s top performing non-selection schools.

The Female Lead by Edwina Dunn with photography by Brigitte Lacombe is published by Ebury Press in hardback, £30.

The Female Lead interviews were conducted by Marian Lacombe, Rosanna Greenstreet, Geraldine Bedell, Hester Lacey

To watch The Female Lead documentaries or nominate a UK school to receive a free copy of the book and teaching materials, visit www.thefemalelead.com

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Colouring in has been a childhood pastime for centuries, but it has now become a veritable adult phenomenon, with booksellers’ shelves groaning under the weight of black and white pages awaiting carefully coloured shading. ‘Phenomenon’ is not too exaggerated a word. In March 2015, Harper Lee’s hugely anticipated second novel, Go Set a Watchman, was knocked off Amazon’s best selling spot by adult colouring book Secret Garden. In August, sales for adult colouring books grew by 20 per cent, with Secret Garden selling 36,500 copies in a single week.

What’s the appeal? We live in a super-connected world of fast facts and constant communication; the simple pleasure of colouring in seems to offer a kind of digital detox – not to mention a hearty dose of nostalgia. The practice has caught the attention of mental health practitioners and therapists alike, and many books on offer include the word ‘mindfulness’ on their vibrant covers.

Colouring fans have been quick to extol its benefits, citing relaxation, improved sleep and a greater ability to deal with stress as the chief advantages. Numerous studies, including research by Dr Robert Epstein, show that creative activities have multiple wellbeing benefits, while many therapists say that active meditation focusing on simple, repetitive tasks promotes concentration, replacing negative thoughts and creating a state of peace.

But is it ‘mindfulness’, as so many publishing houses would have us believe?

“There is certainly an overlap between colouring in and mindfulness,” says Alexa Frey, co-founder of The Mindfulness Project. “When you’re colouring in, you really pay close attention to it. Immersing yourself in the practice means you become very present, so you’re paying attention with intention, which is a large part of mindfulness.

“However, authentic mindfulness practice means spending a lot of time paying attention to what happens in your body and observing your thoughts. It is also cultivating acceptance, kindness and curiosity towards oneself and life in general. Unfortunately this is something you do not learn by colouring in a book. If you really want to explore mindfulness and all its benefits, consider taking a course, downloading an app or at least reading up on it.”

As Frey suggests, ‘mindfulness colouring in’ might be something of a buzz phrase. But for those looking for a peaceful analogue activity, all that really matters is the buzz of staying inside the lines.

Illustration by Brett Wilkinson

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Francisco Van der Hoff Boersma, co-founder of the Fairtrade certification, begins his Manifesto of the Poor with the immortal words from Gandhi: “be the change you want to see.”

This is precisely what this man did when he began fair trade as an alternative social development model, a system which demands democracy in business and equality in production. Today, Fairtrade goods are produced in over 60 countries.

While living among impoverished campesinos (farmers) in coffee plantations in Mexico, barely scraping enough money to live, Van Der Hoff began to develop the idea of fair trade as a new foundation for business.

His manifesto outlines his strong beliefs of what trade should be, exploring environmentalism, spirituality and happiness as things lost in the “cancer” of capitalism. As such, the book is less a description of fair trade and more an exploration of a new model for how we live our lives, and a desire to change society through an alternative economic system.

The fair trade ideal is a rejection of charity as much as a rejection of capitalism, believing it to paint the impoverished as objects rather than fellow humans. The manifesto berates: protest for protest’s sake; throwing money at problems for short term solutions; fear of the impoverished; and society run by the rich for the rich.

The movement has come a long way from small coffee cooperatives in Mexico, and with such passion and clear convictions supporting it, I’m left hoping it can further push our understanding of what makes a good world.

Manifesto of the Poor is published by Permanent Publications.

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Time On Our Side is a collection of essays compiled by the New Economics Foundation as part of its 21-hours campaign, which aims to reduce a ‘normal’ working week to 21 hours.

The essays provoke and challenge orthodox assumptions of what can be achieved through a redistribution of time. What’s most exciting is that the idea is not only theoretical – examples of real action from around the world can be studied and shed light on how we can disrupt our own lives.

What happens if we let go of our fetish for traditional labour and high productivity? How can we make an economy work when it isn’t chasing continual growth? How does an abundance of time impact our social, environmental and gendered economies? Once we understand that human labour is at the heart of society, we can rethink how we experience the value of time.

Looking beyond the workplace, we see how an abundance of time affects people and planet. Shorter working hours would leave more time to be parents, carers, friends, neighbours and active citizens.

Studies across the UK and the Netherlands have shown that people who work shorter hours have a smaller ecological footprint. So a shorter working week could help to safeguard natural resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

There is also a case for how redistributing paid and unpaid time would radicalise gender equality. Historically, women have done the brunt of unpaid, time-consuming and undervalued work in society, such as caregiving or household work. A shorter working week would allow for a rebalance of time within public and private spheres, leading to an increase in men’s responsibility for household and family tasks. This would create a less pressurised, more care-oriented society.

Once we understand “Why make the time?,” the question quickly becomes “Will we do it?” The irony is clear for a collection of essays on time, which one can struggle to find the time to read in the first place – if we’ve learned anything – make the time, it’s worth it.

Time On Our Side, edited by Anna Coote & Jane Franklin (NEF, 2013).

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