Where books come alive

Book lovers got to relish a unique experience of “borrowing” humans of varied experience for 25 minutes instead of books yesterday.

Organised by Human Library Dhaka (HLD) at Gyan Tapas Abdur Razzaq Bidyapeeth in the capital's Dhanmondi, the four-hour event started at 2:00pm.

The HLD is a platform where people can be “borrowed” instead of books, an idea entirely opposite of conventional library people are accustomed to see.

The concept of a Human Library was first initiated by Ronni Abergel in 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He introduced the Human Library as a social reform to encourage conversation around marginalised communities. Later, the Human Library movement was expanded to around 70 countries.

A group of youths initiated the event where the persons who faced prejudices or social injustice appeared as “books” and talked with the “readers”. More than 300 readers joined the event. The Daily Star was its media partner.

Bushra Rubaiya Jerin, a private job holder, said, “I talked with a visually impaired girl. At first, I thought she will talk about the struggles of her life and the hardship she is going through.”

“But after talking with her, I was surprised. She kept on smiling throughout our conversation. I was inspired by her boldness and her undefeated personality.”

In yesterday's event, there were at least 10 categories including challenged people, single mother and anticipated extremist. They shared their experience with the readers about how they were judged or faced problems and overcame it.

Mushfiquzzaman Khan, the main initiator of the platform in Dhaka, said they received immense response from the people. “We are planning to organise another such event next month.”