Recollections celebrates the magic of libraries
Administrator | Oct 17, 2015 | Comments 0
Earlier this year, Picton artist Krista Dalby asked people to tell her their stories about libraries. On Sunday, Oct. 18 – the kick-off to Ontario Public Library Week – Dalby will launch a zine (handmade magazine) of the collected stories, and present a reading of some of those stories.
She collected the stories for her project, Re:Collections and over the spring and summer, the stories trickled in by mail and email. Dalby also spent some time at each of the six library branches in Prince Edward County, asking strangers to stop for a few minutes and talk to her about the libraries in their lives. She has collected more than 60 stories and this Sunday, will return these stories back to the community.
“The stories confirm what I have always suspected,” Dalby said. “People love their libraries. The stories run the full range of human experience: romance, adventure, travel. But my favourite stories are the ones that are deeply human, that explore the magic of the shared space that a library provides. There’s one story that makes me cry every time, no matter how many times I read it, and there are several that are downright hilarious!”
The launch coincides with the opening of DiscARTed, the annual Picton art show of creations made from discarded books. All will take place upstairs at Books & Company, with the reading happening at 2 p.m.
Stories were contributed by everyone from children to seniors and a number of stories came in from other places in Canada as well as from abroad. She said there are a significant number of contributions from current and former librarians, providing great insight into what happens behind the scenes.
Sunday is a free event; the zines will be for sale for $10, with half the proceeds benefiting the County of Prince Edward Public Library and Archives.
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