185. Free Libraries are a Beautiful Human Thing
high five, fellow human.
Dear reader,
Free libraries are a beautiful thing of humankind. We did it.
They promote a sense of community and fraternity. Take a book. They invite us to care for other people. Share a book. They provide value without asking for anything in return. To find one in your world is a reward earned, simply by virtue of being human. What could be more beautiful?
The SneakyArt Post is a publication about secretly drawn art of the world. This week, free libraries.
If you like having SneakyArt in your inbox, help me reach more people?
Little Free Libraries
It has been a long, grey winter in the Pacific North West. So when the sun comes out, I feel obliged to step out. On both occasions this week, I came across little, free libraries in my neighbourhood. What luck! Read more about the Little Free Library project.
Here is my rule for free libraries - Whenever I see a free library, I leave some art inside for a stranger to find.
On the back of this postcard, I wrote - “Postcards make great bookmarks!”
On the second occasion, I did not have a postcard to leave inside. So, I made up another rule instead - In the absence of something to leave inside, I make a drawing of the library.
If I cannot give art, I tell myself, to make a drawing is at least a way to give time and attention. What do you think?
A question to ponder
Which book would you leave inside a free library in your neighbourhood?
Look at your bookshelf. This question invites you to think about -
a book you do not care to own any longer, or
a book you are eager to share with a lucky stranger, or
a book you bought during a certain phase in your life, in a certain state of being, both of which you have since outgrown, or
a book that is taking up undue space on your bookshelf!
Share your answer in the comments!
🗺️ Use this map to locate a little free library in your neighbourhood. If you cannot find one close by, look at the help section for ideas on how to start one!
❤️ A free library is not just for books! Did you know I found FOUR kinds of free libraries last year?
What I am reading
I am stupefied, mesmerized, fascinated, and spellbound by Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence.
What are you reading these days?
📲 This Publication is also a Free Library
This July will make it 3 years since I began the SneakyArt Post. One of my resolutions with publishing every week was -
To learn in public, i.e. to share everything I learn with as many people as I can.
Learning in Public is a commitment to share ideas, the ones that worked as well as the ones that did not. It is a pledge to invite others on a journey of self-education as I venture outside of my comfort zone, where all learning happens. It is a decision to embrace sincerity, which would not be possible without authenticity and vulnerability.
I know it is a good resolution because it terrifies me but also makes me stronger.
This publication is my free library of good ideas. Here are some of the good ones from this year -
🎙 Episode 56 of the SneakyArt Podcast, looking back at my art residency on the Vancouver TransLink.
📖 Impressions from If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, a mind-bending work of fiction by Italo Calvino.
✍🏼 Shedding preconceptions about the people of Delhi, as I sat at a cafe window to draw mall-goers in South Delhi.
📖 Who are Tiny People?, a second (or third?) draft of my opening pitch to literary agents.
🎉 2023 and Me, the bold resolutions and big ideas that will define this most ambitious year of my life.
If SneakyArt has a positive effect on your life, become a SneakyArt Insider and help me continue my work as an independent creative.
Upgrading to the annual subscription amounts to one postcard every month in the free libraries I find in my world.
Thank you for reading. I am glad to have a space in your inbox.
I am currently reading the New Testament, Redeeming Love (a retelling of the book of Hosea set in the California Gold Rush), the Search for WondLa (I love Tony DiTerlizzi’s illustrations!), Xenozoic, and The Bloody Crown of Conan (the Barbarian). I never could read just one book at a time.
What book would I give away? I find it difficult. I’m a book-hoarder. I frequently get two copies of books so that I can give one and keep one. But each book I read has a sort of tactile memory for me: I can remember what I was feeling and events of my life when I was reading just by picking it up, and find passages just by the memory of how it felt in my hands. Books--physical books--are a powerful thing.
That's a great idea! I love the way folks can "pass it on!'
We can bless others in many, many ways.