Books everywhere

   The global trend in book-reading makes books “pop up” in all contexts, in imaginative and solidary ways. In 2008, Antonio da Conceic’ο Ferreira turned his bus into a small mobile library, giving birth to the project “Culture on the Bus”. He offers 15 book titles daily available to the passengers of the line Sobradinho II- Plano Piloto, in Brazil. This mobile library assures a pleasant and enlightening commute to the passengers. Initially, Antonio recorded the book loans. Nowadays, however, he is indifferent as to whether the passengers will return the book they borrowed. He is more interested in the concept of how a book keeps changing hands. His dream is to implement his idea across all of his country’s public transportation lines.
   Bookcrossing is an original and very popular practice, which first appeared in April 2000, inspired by Ron Hornbacker, an IT programmer from Missouri, U.S.A. His goal was to create a worldwide free book distribution club that would be completely self-managed. The element of self-management constituted the innovation in this idea!
  Oxford English dictionary included the definition of bookcrossing in its 2004 edition. Bookcrossing is defined as the practice of leaving a book in a public place, so that others find it, read it and reiterate the same practice. What is the process followed so that a book starts its journey from reader to reader and from country to country? Bookcrossing can “set books free” around benches, coffee shops, metro stations, and generally all public spaces, so that they travel freely. This practically means that the movement of Bookcrossing has given the chance to a vast number of books to spread across the globe, constituting a library that is constantly moving.
  Another interesting initiative to this direction, is the project “Athens as a book” (April 2018 – April 2019). The aim is to have passengers read a book before their flight, in Eleftherios Venizelos airport, in Athens. The passengers departing from Athens find “book neighbourhoods” along the departing lounges, for a special reading experience. They “travel” for a while through the book pages of great Greek poets and novelists prior to their flight departure. Significant Greek literature works – either in Greek or translated in English – are found by the travelers’ seats.
  Books can be found on the benches but also benches transformed into books as inspired by classic literature in London. This was an initiative of the “National Literacy Trust” organization that donated books for an auction so that earnings can be used to fight illiteracy in Britain (London 2014).