Why this Bandra library aims to encourage reading more literature by women

Updated On: 31 December, 2022 11:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Nascimento Pinto

It took Aqui Thami many years to learn how she was reading more books by male authors and very few by women. Now, through Sister Library, she is spearheading a movement to encourage more people to read works by women and start a conversation through art and literature

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Mumbai-based artist Aqui Thami runs Sister Library out of Bandra and encourages people to read more books by women. Photo Courtesy: Manjeet Thakur/Mid-day

For as long as Mumbai-based artist Aqui Thami read books growing up, it was always by male authors. As soon as she realised this roughly eight years ago, Thami also understood how she had a dearth of titles from female authors. She took a conscious effort to pick and curate books by women for herself. “We are so conditioned to read books that are by male authors,” says Thami, continuing, “that we don’t realise that we are missing out on reading books by women from different walks of life.”

Library for women
It did not stop there because this was more than just her personal reading choices. It was the start of a lifelong journey of self-discovery and introducing people to better literature. So, the Mumbaikar decided to do something about it by collecting and curating books solely written by women and create a library for women. She explains, “I started Sister Library when I started reading works of women exclusively. Since I have been a part of Bombay Underground, we have been doing reading interventions in the city and I realised that people wouldn’t readily pick up works of women.” These people, she points out, were from different socio-economic backgrounds but not keen on reading any works by women. “Sometimes when I gave them books written by women, they would not take it and say they want to read something more general and not something that is women-specific or like a popular author,” Thami adds.

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