CBC Human Library Day hosted by Atwater Library

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Atwater Library and Computer Centre is partnering with CBC Montreal to host Human Library Day in Montreal as part of a Canada-wide initiative. Thirteen people from the Montreal area have volunteered to be a “book” and share their stories through one-on-one conversation with members of the public. Come to  Atwater Library and Computer Centre January 26 from 11am until 4pm to participate in this event.

Atwater Library and Computer Centre is located at 1200 Atwater Ave., Westmount, Québec.

Find out more information about the Human Books or how to participate.

Check out the event on Facebook, and follow the Canada wide event on Twitter.

With the generous support of the Inspirit Foundation, we have a team of youth helping us put on this event and create media for its promotion. This website and many of the videos that you see on this site were created right here at the Library with the Inspirit Foundation’s Support.

Human Book: Kim Thúy

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Kim Thúy: author of Ru, 2012 Giller Prize Nominee

Forced to leave her birthplace of Saigon as a child, Kim Thúy made a new home in Quebec and became a Canadian citizen. Now only 44 years old, she has led an incredibly varied life, earning a number of degrees from Université de Montréal and working as a seamstress, interpreter, lawyer, and restaurant owner. After several career changes, she began writing with great success. Her debut novel Ru earned international acclaim and won the 2010 Governor General’s Literary Award for French-language Fiction as well as a prestigious prize at the Salon du Livre de Paris. “It is about the privilege of the lucky few who have survived chaos and seen beauty coming to them in the most unexpected ways,” says Thúy of Ru. The novel captures the physical and emotional struggles of a child fleeing from Saigon, causing some controversy in Vietnam where the history of the “boat people” is controversial and politically sensitive.

Thanks to the YouTube Channel BookLounge, an affiliate of Random House, Canada, for the great video!

Human Book: Andrew Chang

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Andrew Chang: CBC News Montreal Co-Anchor

As co-anchor of CBC Montreal’s supper-time newscast, Andrew Chang has led Montrealers through virtually every recent major event in Quebec. He anchored Montreal’s 2011 federal election night special, which saw the unprecedented rise of the NDP in the province, and the resulting collapse of the Bloc Québécois; he was also the first, among local English television networks, to tell Montrealers about the assassination of mafia godfather Nicolo Rizzuto.

Before becoming an anchor, he worked as one of CBC’s chief staff reporters, covering breaking news at both the local and network level – from the Dawson College shootings, to the collapse of the de la Concorde overpass in Laval, to a month-long stint on the Parti Québécois campaign bus during the 2008 provincial election. During this time, Andrew was also working as a video journalist – interviewing the newsmakers, writing and reporting the story, shooting and editing the video, and finally presenting it all on CBC News: Montreal. With a camera over his shoulder, Andrew spent years producing both news-length and feature-length reports, from across the province.

Now Andrew co-hosts CBC News: Montreal at 5, 5:30 and 6, every weekday evening. On weekends, it’s a different story though – he spends his time snowboarding, hiking, and indulging in one of his many other passions: music.

Follow Andrew on Twitter at @AndrewChangCBC.

Human Book: Frank Verpaelst

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Frank Verpaelst:  musician, computer support technician, blogger and a dwarfFrank is a Montrealer with a zest for life. Born with dwarfism, he’s now 49 years old and stands 4 foot 7 inches tall. His joints grew unevenly and, by the time he was ten years old, he’d spent several long stretches of time in the hospital having surgical procedures. He’s married to a regular-height woman and they have one daughter who does not have dwarfism. He does tech support for corporate clients and, in his spare time, blogs, podcasts and plays musical instruments. A natural-born storyteller, he’s one of the warmest individuals you’ll ever meet.

How to participate

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Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to meet someone new and fascinating at the Atwater Library (métro Atwater) on Saturday, January 26! You can pre-book a conversation by emailing Eric Craven at cbchumanlibrary@atwaterlibrary.ca and saying whom you would like to talk to and at what time. Or, you can just drop in, size up the scene, and respond spontaneously. Library and CBC staff, youth interns and volunteers will be on hand to greet you.

Each conversation will last 20 minutes. Following is the list of times available to book a time to speak to a “human book”:
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30

The Atwater Library and Computer Centre is located at 1200 Atwater Ave., Westmount, Québec.
It’s just south of Ste-Catherine at the Atwater métro.

For more information, or to register, contact Eric Craven at cbchumanlibrary@atwaterlibrary.ca or 514-935-7344 ext’n 207.