Take a Book, Return a Book, and Other Acts of Literary Kindness
Written by Brenda Knight
Little Free Libraries are one of the quietest and quirkiest forms of literary activism to come along in years. I had never heard of this movement until I was driving around North Berkeley on weekend errands four years ago. In the space of two miles, I saw what looked like two birdhouses full of books. Berkeley boasts a man who makes lovely birdhouses out of scrap wood and sells them off an old vintage pickup truck. Neighborhood folks call him “Birdhouse Man” and I thought he had branched out his business by adding see-through doors on bigger birdhouses with shelves for books. I remember thinking Birdhouse Man was surprisingly entrepreneurial as Berkeley, California, has a very well-read populace with so many professors and students.
My last errand involved dropping a signed print off to be framed in my neighborhood frame store. Sure enough, the frame store now had one of these little book houses right in front with a bench for sitting and reading. Gingerly, I opened the door and peered inside at a motley collection of paperback novels, cookbooks, puzzle books, and a handsome hardcover of Lost Knowledge which promised itself as a collection of trivia forgotten by the world.
Suddenly, I felt an urgent need to take the volume of Lost Knowledge. I went into the store and asked the owner “Is it really okay to just take this book?” She assured me it was and added that, “People often remark it is the exact book they need in their lives.” Sure enough, at the time, I was working with an author on a compilation of “Freaky Facts” and I did need that book. I asked Ms. Glen, proprietor of the frame shop, how she found out about this new-to-me phenomenon of free libraries. She replied it was a birthday from her daughter as they were both big readers and liked to pass books on afterward. After that, I noted these charming mini libraries all over the Bay Area.
Fascinated, I investigated these sweet book bins that were cropping up like California poppies all over and discovered it had all begun in Wisconsin. In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother who was a teacher who loved to read. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away. Rick Brooks of UW-Madison saw Bol’s do-it-yourself project while they were discussing potential social enterprises. Together, the two saw opportunities to achieve a variety of goals for the common good.
They were inspired by community gift-sharing networks, “take a book, leave a book” collections in coffee shops and public spaces, and most especially by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Around the turn of the 20th century, Carnegie set a goal to fund the creation of 2,508 free public libraries across the English-speaking world. The duo have gone way beyond the Carnegie’s goal and the number of Little Free Libraries stands at 50,000 and grows every day as the movement spreads from front yard to street corner to walls, parks and store fronts in all 50 states and over 70 countries around the world. Check out their website for more information or to sign up for newsletters and order a Little Free Library of your own.
As a member of the Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter, I am keenly interested in anything book-related and especially if it is advocacy as that is exactly what we do in the WNBA. I did a small survey of chapter members and was delighted to hear that many of us have a favorite Little Free Library or three in our own neighborhoods. Part of the fun of it all is that these tiny book exchanges are as unique as the “librarian” with many architectural styles and other features. Noted Alameda author Jack Mingo reported this about his local LBL, “The one in my neighborhood has late evening hours; it has a small light inside for night owls.” Agent Laurie McLean noted her colleague, Gordon Warnock of Fuse Literary had a Little Free Library at his spring wedding! Jane Denning, president of the Women’s National Book Association reports her favorite aspect of having aLittle Free Library is the notes from readers, neighbors and strangers.
Our chapter’s Membership Co-chair, Terye Balogh is a full-time librarian who shares this, “I love those little libraries. There are quite a few librarians and library clerks and pages in our system who have created those and placed them around their neighborhood. Living in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I see them quite a bit, and have also noticed that a few businesses have areas where people can take a book, leave a book. I think that speaks volumes for the need for more funding for libraries. I’m all for anything and everything around books. I know that one of the library supervisors who has a little library on his property includes information about the libraries in his area. They are absolutely fantastic for our area during the summer, so many campers and they have access to books.”
We love hearing the librarian’s point of view and would also like to hear yours, dear reader. What stories can you share about your local itty bitty book exchange or photos of a favorite you have spotted “in the wild?” Feel free to send photos and regale us with tales of “acts of literary kindness.” And keep those pages turning!
WNBA-SF President Brenda Knight is the author of Wild Women and Books, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation, which won an American Book Award. She served as publisher of Cleis Press and was awarded IndieFab’s Publisher of the Year in 2014. She is a Publishing Consultant to Mango Media.
Anniqua Rana, who lives in the Bay Area, is the author of 
As a consultant and professor of strategic management, Marlena Fiol, PhD, guided her students and clients in coming to know themselves deeply, visualizing their dreams and identifying and removing the barriers to achieve them. Over half of her 85 published articles and books relate to identity and identity change. Her work has been cited over 20,000 times. 
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Kate Farrell, 
Kate Farrell is our host and facilitator. Kate is a storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. 
Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is a Pushcart Prize nominated author. Her second book, All That and More’s Wedding, is a collection of fictional mystery/crime short stories. Running for the 2:10, a follow-on to A Dollar Five delved deeper into her coming of age in Oakland and the embedded issues of race and skin color. Betrayal on the Bayou, published June 2020, is her first novel. Website: 
Humaira Ghilzai is a writer, speaker and Afghanistan Cultural Consultant. Humaira opens the world to Afghan culture and cuisine through her wildly popular blog, 
Mary Mackey is an award-winning novelist and poet with fourteen novels and eight collections of poetry. Mary became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, dodging machine gun fire, being swarmed by army ants, making catastrophic decisions about men, and reading. Website: 
Sharifah Hardie is a business consultant, talk show host and influencer. Sharifah was a Long Beach City Council Candidate in the 2020 March 3rd Primary Election and is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Expert. With over twenty five years of business experience, Sharifah Hardie has positioned herself to become one of the top executives in entertainment, business, politics and a person on the rise. Sharifah is the author of Signs You Might Be An Entrepreneur – How to Discover the Entrepreneur in You
Lyzette Wanzer’s work appears in over twenty-five literary journals. She is a contributor to The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays (Wyatt-MacKenzie), The Naked Truth, Essay Daily, and San Francisco University High School Journal. A three-time San Francisco Arts Commission and Center for Cultural Innovation grant recipient, Lyzette serves as Judge for the Soul-making Keats Literary Competition Intercultural Essay category. She is currently helming an anthology entitled Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narrative.
Sumbul Ali-Karamali, a former corporate attorney with an additional degree in Islamic law, is an award-winning writer and speaker. She grew up in California, answering questions about her religion, which is why her books engagingly introduce readers to Muslim beliefs and practices and include The Muslim Next Door: The Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing and her just-released Demystifying Shariah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It’s Not Taking Over Our Country.
Pushcart Prize nominee Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is an Oakland multidisciplinary writer. Her autobiographical and fictional short story collections, along with her lyrical and stunning poetry have been described as “rich in vivid imagery,” “incredible,” and “great contributions to literature.” Her first novel, Betrayal on the Bayou, was published in June 2020. She is also a popular literary reader, presenter, storyteller, curator and emcee for local events.
Fourth-generation native San Franciscan, Kathleen Archambeau, is an award-winning writer and LGBTQ activist. She is author of four nonfiction works, Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels (2006), “Seized,” an essay in The Other Woman (2007), edited by Victoria Zackheim, Pride & Joy (2017), and We Make It Better (2019), with gay dad, Eric Rosswood. Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black wrote the Foreword to Pride & Joy and endorsed We Make It Better. Archambeau’s work has been favorably reviewed in global and national literary publications and she has been a featured speaker at national and global Pride literary events. Her book was included as part of the Oakland Museum of California store’s Queer California Exhibit and she is a founding member of the James Hormel LGBT wing of the SF Public Library.
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. Over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing, and does author coaching. He wrote How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, and co-authored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. Mike is co-director of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.
Rose Castillo Guilbault is the author of the highly acclaimed memoir Farmworker’s Daughter: Growing Up Mexican In America. Her essays have been published in dozens of textbooks and anthologies. She also wrote the book The Latina’s Guide to Success In the Workplace. Rose was the first Hispanic columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle; her column “Hispanic USA” was honored by a number of journalistic and community organizations. A longtime television journalist, she was awarded an EMMY for her work. Ms. Castillo Guilbault was featured in the award-winning book Latinas and Their Muses. Her community activities include Chair of the Commonwealth Club of California’s board of directors and serving as a judge on the Book Awards Committee for several years.
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WNBA-the National Organization 
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Ms. Morris was the first Coordinator of Children’s Services at the San Francisco Public Library and established the Children’s Historical and Research Collection at the Children’s Center of the San Francisco Library. She went on to become the first African American president of the Public Library Association. In 1968, Ms. Morris founded the San Francisco Chapter of the Women’s National Book Association, which began in 1917. The WNBA SF Chapter is continuing our advocacy for the voices of women and diverse authors in tribute to Ms. Morris’s important work and legacy.