Unique Program for adults coming to the Lisbon Library!
CultureAll’s Open Book Program featuring JJ Singh Kapur and Trevy Augustin
Wednesday August 28, 6-7 pm
The Lisbon Public Library was awarded a grant from Humanities Iowa to bring a special program for adults on August 28. We’ll be hosting two incredibly talented storytellers, JJ Singh Kapur and Trevy Augustin. This program is presented by Open Book, a community project that creates connections and builds social cohesion through story sharing where People are “Books” and You are a “Reader.” The program was inspired by The Human Library Project which started in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2000 and is also reminiscent of a Moth Storytelling event.
Imagine a library full of stories - not written in books, but told through the lessons learned by people with real-life experiences. Books are people. They are our neighbors from diverse backgrounds who are willing to share their personal experiences and defining moments. Readers are people like you who are interested in hearing stories that inspire joy, awe, wonder, and disbelief. They gain a more complex sense of the Books as they “check them out,” hear their stories, and engage with them through small group conversation.
About our Books
JJ Kapur began his interfaith work in Iowa in high school. He started a youth organization called The Turbanators, which focused on turbanating the negative stigma surrounding Sikhism through awareness building and community service. In 2017, he became the first turbaned Sikh to win the most prestigious high school speech and debate competition in the U.S. JJ graduated from Stanford University with Honors and Distinction in Theater and Performance Studies and aminor in Psychology. He returned to his hometown of Des Moines as an AmeriCorps Lead for America Fellow, where he is currently serving with CultureALL to help Iowans build bridges with their diverse neighbors by cultivating a human library across his home state called Open Book.
The Bollywood movies JJ Kapur watched as a child were all about heroes and villains. The off-screen superhero in JJs life was his father, who carried with him a pocketful of pixie dust wherever he went. But when JJ returned home from college, he wondered whether his fathers pixie dust had disappeared.
Trevy Augustin is a proud Micronesian-American millennial, whose professional and personal life revolves around navigating difference and dialogue. With degrees in political science and social work and a love for geography and history, Trevy humbly approaches cultural differences and encourages conversations that explore who we are and how we can, and should, co-exist. As a Micronesian-American who was born in Guam and has lived in different places like Yokosuka, Japan, Chicago, St. Louis, New Hampshire, and now Iowa, Trevys lived experiences and interactions with people of diverse backgrounds has grown her love for life-long learning and community building.
Individualist and collectivist cultures differ greatly and affect how individuals view their relationships with one another and their families. I had to embrace both individualist and collectivist cultures when wedding planning. It could be challenging and frustrating for both bride and groom, but it was a culturally rich and humbling experience for both of us. This light-hearted recollection of a chaotic, yet loving, time offers readers perspective and thought-provoking reflection about family, culture, and wedding planning.