I performed this walk with Tamsin Grainger, as part of our Walking in Pairs projects, so that we walked separated by vast distance, but at the same time, with the same purpose. We each started with a book, walking towards a little free library, using a random page number to create prompts for the journey. We exchanged our book for a new one at each library, repeating the process and continuing the thread for as long as we could.

Little Free Libraries are a non-profit, community driven international project, allowing individuals to build and install libraries, usually in these front gardens. In a time of extreme consumerism and the privatization of public space, little free libraries seem like vital spaces encouraging community, sharing, and literacy. These all aligned with the goals of many walking artists, and so we performed a walk that used books as catalysts in an quest to visit as many free libraries as we could within our own neighbourhoods. I like the idea of moving books around, and books being actors in an ongoing journey.

Libraries and knowledge are powerful and can threaten embedded power. In my own city, the right-wing mayor has reduced library hours, and proposed charging library users. We hoped to amplify how libraries provide a place for people to meet and share ideas.