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  • Culture, Art and Creativity
  • Inclusion and Social Awareness
  • Urban Intervention

The library is alive

Closing the book fair, on the 10th of June, Agora Aveiro reinvented the concept of a library by creating a space where, instead of books, you find people. Inspired in the international movement “Human Library”, we created the the “Biblioteca Viva”.

Estimated reading time: 1 minute and 39 seconds

With foundations on the principles that “behind every book is a person” and “each person has a story to tell”, we’ve created a sharing space where “readers” were invited to hear the stories of migrants and refugees. Stories like that of a Venezuelan activist politician who was kidnapped and shot, but who couldn’t be stopped from fighting for a better future. Or maybe the story of a Syrian student who embraced education and went and fell in love with the city of canals. Or the story of a young woman who came to Aveiro at 13 years of age and whose memories of Iraq and Jordan are kept alive through those countries’ tradicional cuisine. Or even the story of a couple who left behind the wonders of the Amazon to fall in love with the scenery and the hospitality of the people they found here.

The “Biblioteca Viva” (“Human Library”) is a space where tough questions are expected, appreciated and answered, with no fears or taboos. A unique educational concept that fosters dialogue in its informal atmosphere, making it easier to deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices, and bringing us together in a more inclusive society.

This action is part of an area of intervention Agora Aveiro has been fomenting, “Social Inclusion and Awareness”, “Art, Culture and Creativity” and “Urban Intervention”, through impactful projects, that induce change with the purpose of turning Aveiro into a reference city.

The action was made in direct collaboration with Centro Local de Apoio à Integração de Migrantes de Aveiro– CLAIM, a service of Centro Social Paroquial da Vera Cruz,  Biblioteca Municipal de Aveiro, with the support of Pleno - Lactogal, the IPDJ - Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude, I.P. and Câmara Municipal de Aveiro. A moment that enriched and diversified the cultural offer of the Book Fair!

Agora Aveiro