The Place for Everybody (Including Children) is the Library by Franco Vitella . 100 Years of Summer Read 100 years ago, way back in 1924, Toledoans embarked on a bold journey to read during the summer – and win fabulous prizes just for doing so! This year, Toledo Lucas County Public Library celebrates one whole century of Summer Read with concerts, events, and of course, reading! To participate in Summer Read, just visit toledolibrary.org/summer or stop by any Library location to register. After that, you just have to read at least once a day for 30 days between June 1 – August 3. Kids, teens, and adults alike are eligible to participate! Connecting Kids to Meals Children who might be food insecure can visit the Library throughout the summer months to grab a lunch, without income restrictions or registration requirements, thanks to our friends at Connecting Kids to Meals. Lunches are distributed at select Library locations. For more information, visit toledolibrary.org/food. Something for the Adults If you’re an adult caregiver for a child, you deserve a break too! It’s good to take some downtime away from the kids to recharge. If this sounds like something you need, try this tailor-made Library book club just for you… Books on Tap Talk books, socialize, and relax with a cold one at Maumee Bay Brewing Company this summer! Visit toledolibrary. org/bookclubs for more details, or visit one of our meetings: Wednesday, June 12, 7:308:30 p.m. – Chain-Gang AllStars by Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah Wednesday, July 17, 7:308:30 p.m. – Banyan Moon by Thao Thai Wednesday, August 21, 7:308:30 p.m. – All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby ComicAunts: the new wave of women in comics and illustration Eleven young female illustrators and comic authors from Serbia have formed a collective called Stripotetke (ComicAunts). Their fi rst project, “At Home”, is centered around the feminist issue of unpaid housework, and the second, “Breaking the Silence”, is inspired by the stories of intersex people. By Dejan Kožul The comics collected under the title “At Home” attracted different perspectives on working from home – where does professional work stop and everything else start? If I work hard, am I a good mother or the opposite? These are dilemmas that every mother faces, regardless of their profession, says Danica Jevdjović, a member of female illustration collective ComicAunts. “The [initial] target group of the project was young women speaking about their lives during lockdown.” It asked them to probe “what life was – living on one’s own, or maybe with the family; how they spent their time… A part of the project was a comic I was working on. Every one of us has a story to tell, and that, I think, is demonstrated in the anthology,” says Jevdjović of contributing to “At Home”. Also included in the anthology is Ana Petrović, author of the globally acclaimed book Comicotherapy, which used the short comic form to examine the experience of psychotherapy. Whereas other authors explored how their experiences changed during lockdown, Ana, who has long worked from home, witnessed everyone start to live as she does: “You can wear leggings; you don’t think of your new hairdo.” But, she adds, there is a more challenging side to being alone. “At therapy sessions, I was talking about feelings of isolation. The thing that helped me was the radio, because by listening to radio shows I got a feeling of belonging to a community,” she says. Each of the authors faced challenges. Delineating work time while at home was not an easy task for those with parenting responsibilities, member Jana says. “The attempt to work and raise a child was intense and contradictory, because you feel work pressure on one hand, to be at the scene as if you don’t have a child, and on the other hand, you have to raise a child as if you do not work. That was breaking me. Then I came up with the idea to depict a situation where Jana the mum confronts Jana the artist.” Post-lockdowns, ComicAunts have continued their work. Their new edition, “Breaking the Silence”, shares intersex people’s stories. It features Kristian Randjelović, the fi rst intersex activist in Serbia and the president of Association XY Spectrum, as well as professional comic writer and medical practitioner Pavle Zelić. “The comic was created with the idea of explaining the experiences of intersex persons to the younger population,” Randjelović says. “It was important to me to connect the stories we told with situations that all the participants can relate to.” Translated from Serbian by Katya Ven-vujetic Courtesy of Liceulice / INSP.ngo Page 9
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