Libraries: the safest spaces we have?
The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer
4.8 • 162 Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2023
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What comes to mind when you imagine a library? Rows of books, probably. But across the continent, libraries are transforming into places that serve communities in all sorts of other ways. This week we hear from two very different libraries about how they're doing just that: Bojana Grujic of the Novi Sad City Library in Serbia and Myrto Tsilimpounidi from the Feminist Library at the Feminist Autonomous Centre in Athens. We're also talking about the fallout from Macron's trip to China, the international fight against Hungary's homophobic law, and the hallucinogenic adventures of early Europeans.
Bojana and Myrto's libraries are taking part in the European Cultural Foundation's Europe Challenge. The hunt for new participants begins soon; keep an eye on the ECF's website for updates, or subscribe to their newsletter.
This week's Isolation Inspiration: Birdsbesafe cat collars, available via the Royal Belgian League for the Protection of Birds, and 'The Shadow King' by Maaza Mengiste. Bonus: Katy's amazing Notion template.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE: https://europeanspodcast.com/episodes/libraries-the-safest-spaces-we-have
00:22 No Easter eggs for Dominic
02:43 Messy / Bad Week: Macron and von der Leyen's trip to China
14:47 Good Week: The fight against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ law
23:06 Interview: Bojana Grujic and Myrto Tsilimpounidi on the reinvention of Europe's libraries
35:51 Isolation Inspiration: Birdsbesafe cat collars and 'The Shadow King' by Maaza Mengiste
40:59 Happy Ending: Early Europeans' psychedelic dabbling
Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak
Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak
Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I found out something really |
| 0:10.0 | I found out something really exciting this week. |
| 0:25.2 | Tell me. |
| 0:26.0 | So you know how I'm really obsessed with this app called Notion? |
| 0:29.0 | Yes. |
| 0:29.7 | Which I used to write my to-do list. |
| 0:31.8 | You don't do it anymore? |
| 0:32.9 | No, I do. |
| 0:33.8 | And I never shut up about how life-changing it is, and you find it incredibly annoying. |
| 0:38.5 | I found out this week that a former French government minister is using this to-do list |
| 0:45.0 | planner because of me. |
| 0:47.3 | No. |
| 0:48.4 | Yes. |
| 0:49.2 | Did they hear about it on the podcast? |
| 0:50.7 | No, I convinced a friend of mine to join this cult of mine and she recruited her colleague, |
| 0:55.6 | who became completely obsessed with it, and then the colleague happened to have a meeting |
| 0:59.3 | with this former government minister who was like, oh, what's that you're using? Looks like a |
| 1:04.1 | life-changing app. Wow, I feel rather ashamed of myself that I've not taken this on. I just |
| 1:09.0 | think it's not for me. I just think your life would be better. I mean, I don't know. I sound on Hinge when I talk about this app, so I'm |
| 1:14.5 | going to stop talking about it now. But I will put the template that I use in the show notes, |
| 1:19.2 | because I want to see if I can get it to be used by like a serving head of state or something. |
| 1:24.3 | Wouldn't that be great? All serving heads of state that are listening, please |
... |
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