The Human Library Reading Garden is gearing up for another tremendous season of courageous conversations in Copenhagen. We are all set to reopen for loans again at the end of April, and the great news is that this season we will be open to our public readers every Sunday, and yes, it is still free to use the services of the Human Library.

More than 500 Loans

In the previous season, we registered over 560 loans to readers during the Sunday sessions. This confirms the increasing level of interest, support and love from our Readers. People from all over the world visited us to borrow and read some of our open Books, and we are delighted to be able to provide even more opportunities for Books and Readers this season. The conversations about our diversity are more important than ever.

Open Every Sunday

Our team of Books and Librarians look forward to welcoming our readers every Sunday. The many visitors last year confirmed to us that we need to be providing even more opportunities for Readers to engage with our Books. The Reading Garden in Copenhagen has seen an ever-increasing influx of visitors since our grand opening in 2020 (*link to article).

“We are excited to be able to offer more learning spaces to the people of Copenhagen and visitors to the city and expect a steady traffic of courageous Readers this season”, says Ronni Abergel, founder of the Human Library and creator of the Reading Garden”

A Unique Learning Experience

The Human Library Reading Garden offers a free and unique learning experience for Readers to engage in dialogue on topics that often carry a great stigma and with people who have a relevant lived experience and who volunteered to answer questions about their life and background.

The new season in the Human Library Reading Garden will launch Sunday, April 23rd, and you can find a link to the event here. Readers are welcome from noon to 4 PM, and as always, the services of the Human Library are free to our Readers.

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Fall in the Reading Garden

It’s a cold day in October when books and librarians meet up in the Reading Garden for the last time in 2022. The trees have started wearing their orange and brown colored coats, while dark grey blankets and cushions are being laid out on the garden’s benches.

“The end of the season is wistful, but comes with a huge sense of pride, both for the volunteers, but also for me.”, says Fanny Timmermann, who has been the lead coordinator for the Reading Garden this season. “For me as the Reading Garden coordinator, every other Sunday has been a day that I looked forward to, especially the diverse conversations with the books, but also with readers.”

Librarians Fanny Timmerman and Azlina Azmeir

The Human Library’s books have been loaned 562 times this season. That number is beyond all expectations and has made a big impression. “This season in the Reading Garden has been impressive and educational. The amount of readers has been impressive for me personally, but also for our books and librarians.” says Fanny Timmermann, “There have been so many things that made an impression on me, for example, the fact that there have been repeat readers throughout the season, who knew who they had read before, and who they wanted to read on the day.”

The bells of Saint Johannes Church across the street chime at 12 pm, and the first few readers start showing up at the counter. There are nine titles to choose from today, including schizophrenia, victim of incest, homeless, post-partum depression, psychic healer, and immigrant. It is soon evident that it is not just Danish readers who have shown up today. “It’s been remarkable how many different nationalities and languages the Reading Garden has seen this year.” the coordinator says, “But mostly, it’s been great to hear the books listing off countries from every continent when they’ve told us about their readings.”

Despite the Danish autumn weather, readers show up at the counter throughout the afternoon; They’ve heard that this is their last chance. “Several of the readers already want to know when we are opening up next season.” tells one of the librarians.

The Reading Garden is set to reopen in the spring of 2023, where there will be ample opportunity for loaning Human Books – Next season, the Garden will be open every Sunday.

And Fanny Timmermann has a piece of advice for next season’s readers: “Some titles can seem tough, and maybe too tough, but if there is just a little bit of curiosity, then pick that book. And if you think you already know everything about a topic, then pick that book anyway – They will most likely tell you something you didn’t know before.”

See when the next Human Library is.

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