Extending across geographical and political boundaries, the Everywhere Library is a carefully curated selection of writing from every corner of the globe. With a spirit of inclusivity at its heart, the library seeks to offer at least one book per country, encompassing states with contested borders, occupied homelands, fragmented diasporas, islands under ecological threat and cultures facing extinction.
This diverse collection offers a range of genres including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and biography. There are recipe books, folk tales, fables, stories for children and stories by young adults. Alongside prize-winning authors you’ll find those who have been censored, banned, or whose books have in some way caused a stir.
Writers have been chosen for their close connection to a country. More than half of the authors selected are connected by birth, upbringing and education, offering first-hand, local, insider’s views, perhaps revealing previously unheard voices, or stories from an ancient oral tradition. Others are connected by migration, offering the viewpoint of the outsider, the uprooted, the exiled, the refugee and the returnee. The search for books often led to those without acclaim or review, at times turning up only one available title – perhaps a country’s very first publication, its first translation into English, or its first female author to share her world.
Whilst gender inequality is still prevalent in many parts of the world, both in access to education and in funding for women writers to be published and translated, the collection has sought out female authors wherever possible – though not exclusively.
