The Life Library was part of Salzburg Global Seminar’s program Public Policy Innovations for Inclusive Communities. In it, human beings serve as open books, creating space for personal stretching and communal pondering through conversations
There are places that protect storytellers, that embrace all questions, foster openness and curiosity.
One such place is the Max Reinhardt Library in Schloss Leopoldskron, situated in the beautiful city of Salzburg. Being one of the most cherished spaces in the Schloss, with ornately decorated doors and a hidden staircase, it is home to exhibitions, readings, thousands of authors, avid readers, and lastly - the Life Library, which took place in late October, as part of Salzburg Global Seminar’s program Public Policy Innovations for Inclusive Communities.
The Life Library is home to storytellers of complexity, who believe in the transformative force of vision and imagination. In it, human beings serve as open books, allowing people to indulge in conversational “reading.” That is, space for personal stretching and communal pondering.
Across the library rooms, people were turning into books, with sentences and paragraphs moving the audience, sparking something that would often lead into one’s own reflections, and surface all kinds of memories and stories.
Among the “human books” were Stylianos Kympouropoulos with his “Keep rising”, James Filippatos with “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in a Greek Diner”, Jana Degrott and “Hidden Potential”, Robb Anthony Gray and “Christian Conservative Turned Social Justice Movement Builder”, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn, “EXCAVATION”, Chloe Hakim-Moore with “I Matter. You Matter. & This Matters. So, What Do We Do About It?”, Jong-Hwa Ahn with “A Peaceful Warrior”, Admir Lukacevic and “Differences are Strength”, Litha Sokutu with “Rarefied Heir: The Power of Identity & Self-Worth”, Ana Rold and “Dreams from Three Eagles”, and Martin Weiss with “Around the world in 80 days, well ok 34 years…”.
Both Ana Rold and Admir Lukacevic’s “books” bear witness to the strength of the Balkan spirit, reminiscing the suffering under the previous century’s harrowing catastrophes.
“Dreams from three eagles” recounted Ana’s escape from communist Albania in 1990, which marked the beginning of her seven-year journey to America – “years in purgatory” as she recalls them. Folded between the pages of her “book”, the three eagles represent the stories of her two entirely different lives. The first story is of the two-headed eagle – the national bird displayed on the Albanian flag. Legend has it, as Albanian eagles get old, their beaks get very big, to such extent that if they are in captivity, they use their beaks to kill themselves to escape capture. Metaphorically, this represents the suffering of the Albanian people during the communist regime.
“I am the bird that doesn't want to be in captivity. That includes not just physical captivity, but mental captivity. This was my journey from Albania to America.”
The second story was about the bald eagle symbolizing the freedom that immigrants believe they will find in America, where Ana and her family eventually found refuge. The dreams, the ability to just go out there.
“We were in, what I would call, purgatory for seven years while we were waiting for our paperwork to finalize so we could go to the United States. It was horrendous and we were in a relatively good place. So can you imagine what it was like for people who were stuck in the camps," said Ana.
What she has been through, Ana transformed into her passion today. She is a vocal supporter of women’s global issues and she mentors women leaders with a focus on empowering women in the Middle East to be strong forces for change.
“Instead of fixing our flaws or weaknesses, why not switch the narrative and work with our strengths? Figure out what your strengths are and move forward with that. As an Eastern European who had always been in difficult situations, today I know that it was the struggle that defined me up until that point and gave me this growth mindset to work on and to always identify what I am thankful for. We need to embrace our weaknesses and work on the positive side of things.”
Admir Lukacevic’s “Differences are strength” book harbored stories about borders and belonging. Leaving behind the horror of the Balkan war inside the Bosnian borders, his family reached a segregated neighborhood in Landskrona, Sweden, by boat. The many barriers and challenges an immigrant family faces, as well as carving his own path without any guidance, turned him into the bridge-builder that he is today. As sport was his rescue throughout the years, he founded his organization “Sports Without Borders.” Since then, Admir has taken care of hundreds of kids and one day, back in 2008, he received a letter from the Swedish King, awarding him “best leader in Sweden” because he had given thousands of young people meaningful new goals in life.
Admir’s work not only celebrates diversity and creates a new generation of role models, but also germinates the seed for a different society in Scandinavia, embracing otherness, and fostering togetherness and optimism.
Both their stories served as a reminder that we must seek out companions and teachers, summoning compassion, tenderness and curiosity towards ourselves and others.
Jana Degrott’s “Hidden Potential” talked about the long path to finding our potential and building our confidence. About having the humility and the courage to step back and learn from the places we have been - places of pain, insecurities, struggling to find a space we belong to, to feel seen and heard – and about trying to forge a new path, colored with confidence and acceptance. As a young woman of color, Jana’s story is about fighting against stigma and discrimination, and finding the “hidden potential” we all have inside ourselves.
“People were questioning my presence in certain places, putting me into boxes, telling me I was not enough, that I have to settle for less. No, I will not settle for less. I am enough!”
Once identified and embraced, this potential becomes our driving force. Today, Jana is dedicated to creating spaces where women of color from all walks of life can feel they belong, embrace their diversity, and feel represented.
“It is about finding your fire and push all the barriers keeping you away from it. Your fire is your potential. Smash them! Because you have no time. It is just one life – that is the amount of time we all get.”
In his story “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in a Greek Diner” James Filippatos, Vice President for Global Public Policy at The Walt Disney Company, talked about the power of convenings to stitch relationships across different cultures and backgrounds, and equip for resilience and togetherness. He focused on themes around the immigrant experience and the importance of creating communal spaces where our differences can be a source of fellowship, not division.
The Greek Diner is a quintessentially New York-area institution and a quintessentially immigrant story. These diners were and are run mostly by immigrant families, including his own. Growing up in that context, he was immersed in a set of values that have supported him throughout his education and career. Those values include the importance of community, hard work, innovation, integrity, and being comfortable among strangers. The menus are endless and include dishes from many cultures, attracting customers from many different backgrounds. The deep divisions in societies across the world and the politicization of everything make spaces like these diners – spaces which are fewer and fewer – increasingly important. To thrive in our nations and communities, we need more spaces for coming together that transcend politics and allow for cultural differences and exchanges.
Those present as “human books” bore witness to a beautiful encounter of people who became dear to each other.
This is the Life Library’s goal for us - recognizing that collaborative creativity opens the door to the generative possibilities this moment holds — not just in academic and scientific circles, but in the everyday living laboratories of our vocations, our homes, our friendships, and our minds.
