Living Memoirs Project President Nikash Pradhan was browsing social media one day during his first semester of medical school and came across something that caught his eye.
It was an advertisement for the Danish company The Human Library, an association dedicated to addressing prejudice by helping people talk to those they wouldn’t otherwise meet. The organization assembles a group of people, referred to as “books,” who would be “on loan” for conversation throughout the day, allowing event attendees to have open and honest discussions without fear of stigmatization.
On April 21, the Human Library event came to fruition, filling the Iowa City Public Library’s meeting rooms with countless tables and people operating both as books and readers.
Pradhan conducted research afterward and said the concept was something special.
“One thing I really valued was getting exposure to as many different groups of people as possible through volunteering,” he said.
Pradhan added his volunteer work helped him get to know people from all backgrounds, an activity he will continue to take part in as he stays on the medicine track and interacts with patients. After realizing how appealing The Human Library sounded to him, Pradhan wondered if he could pull something similar off himself.
“It was a lot of work at the beginning,” he said, emphasizing the importance of the help he received from others.
Once the planning of the event was set in motion, he began to assemble those who would function as “books.” UI research assistant Karthik Sivakumar was quickly drawn to the concept.
“I thought it was a very interesting idea: you’re able to share these stories through real-life interactions,” Sivakumar said. “Most often, we hear about people who go through so many hardships and life struggles by reading their books, novels, or articles. You rarely get to sit down and talk with [them].”
Sivakumar represented the topic of immigration, speaking with others about his past and how his immigrant story played out, even addressing his work with national organizations to “improve the dream” and bring about better policies.
Event attendee Hend Al-Kaylani loved the idea of the Human Library and was quickly compelled to attend.
“It’s really lovely to talk to someone that you wouldn’t have [talked to] otherwise,” they said. “This is a great chance to do that.”
Sivakumar believes the event succeeded in its goal of destigmatizing certain topics and addressing prejudice.
“If people are more open to listening to stories and interacting with people from different backgrounds, they’ll find that they have a lot more in common than they think,” he said. “That’s the key to understanding people and breaking down the stigma of all those different kinds of values and perspectives.”