Prejudice is often rooted in the fear of the unknown and stereotypes stem from forming opinions without knowing all the facts. The Human Library Organisation (their spelling) has found a way to combat this with a unique event model where guests can go to libraries and listen to people tell their stories, as a living book. This unique event is coming to the Olympia Timberland Library on Sunday, August 17, 2025, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“I first heard about the Human Library Organisation in 2010, and I’ve wanted to organize one ever since, so for me this is a 15-year-long dream finally coming to fruition!” shares Aggie Burstein, librarian at Olympia Timberland Library.
The Human Library Organisation
Brothers Ronni and Dany Abergel, along with Asma Mouna and Christoffer Erichsen, created the Human Library Organisation – an international not-for-proift – in 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The first event was four days long and featured over 50 human books telling their stories for eight hours each day. Over one thousand people came through. The point? To break down stereotypes.
Since then, Human Library events have been hosted in over 80 countries. And now, it’s coming to Olympia for one day, August 17, thanks to Aggie. Recently moved to programming, Aggie had a community member reach out and encourage them to host a Human Library event. Since it was already on her own mind, Aggie took it as a sign and got to work planning.
Olympia Human Library Event
The Human Library event will have about 20 local people sharing their real-life stories with you. Stories are generally around 20 minutes in length. Aggies explains that the event encourages understanding, awareness and open dialogue, without taking a position or having an agenda. Books are not representing a certain group or acting as a topic expert, but rather sharing their own personal experience. Its nature also encourages people to connect with others in their community, something Aggie says is becoming harder to do.
“Events like these seem increasingly important as we become more disconnected from each other,” she adds. “We all have biases, whether conscious or unconscious, and associations with certain identities, lifestyles or experiences. This event puts a human face to some of those categories and may help break down some of these stereotypes by showing that everyone is more than one thing.”
Human books at Olympia Timberland Library event will include stories on race, religion, (dis)ability, mental health, sexuality, occupation, lifestyle, family structure, and adverse experiences such as addiction and being a victim/survivor, shares Aggie.
Those who come to “read” the books at the drop-in event will get to choose the books they listen to. Book reading will be one-on-one, unless you come in a small group of two or three, then you may stay together. There will be a reader lounge where participants can wait until a book is available.
As an interactive event, readers will be able to ask questions and interact with those sharing their stories. “A ‘reading’ may entail a short introduction from the book at the beginning, and then it will basically be a Q&A between the reader and the book for the remaining time,” explains Aggies. “Participants will have a chance to ask any questions, as long as they come from a place of curiosity and respect, so it’s going to be very interactive and informative for participants.”
Due to the nature of the stories, this event is for adults. There will be no recordings of the stories, so the only way to hear them is to head to the Olympia Timberland Library August 17.
Verbal storytelling has always been an important way for humans to preserve history, culture and more. Experience its power for yourself at the Olympia Timberland Library Human Library event.
Olympia Timberland Library
Human Library Event
August 17, 2025
12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
313 8th Avenue SE, Olympia
360.352.0595
