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Birmingham writers team up to save local libraries as budget cuts threaten closure
A group of Birmingham authors, poets and playwrights have teamed up to try and save local libraries as budget cuts from the council threaten closures.
Across the city, 35 local libraries are at risk after Birmingham City Council declared "effective bankruptcy" in September 2023. Under the new plans, the current Library Service and Neighbourhood Advice & Information Service (NAIS) will be combined into a single service and the council has revealed a provisional planned saving target of £2.3m. So far, five libraries are scheduled to close while seven face the withdrawal of council staff and funding.
However, two Birmingham-based writers decided they could not let their libraries go that easily.
Author and British Book Award-winner Catherine O’Flynn and poet Liz Berry, whose work collections include Black Country (Chatto) and The Republic of Motherhood (Chatto), met on the playground at their childrens’ school, and began discussing the decline of the libraries in June this year.
O’Flynn told The Bookseller: “When the news first started breaking about the cuts, I almost felt so defeated by it and I remember being incredibly sad and felt like there was almost no point in saying anything because it was all so hopeless.”
The pair began "venting" online about the proposed closures before a plan quickly formed to create a zine filled with pieces from local writers about the libraries at risk of closure.
O’Flynn added: “The consultation period is a short period of time, and we wanted to do something really quickly, really DIY.”
A crowdfunder raised £1,000 in a week to cover printing and paper costs of the magazine.
Anna Metcalfe, Kit de Waal and Mark Billingham are just some of the 35 writers involved in the scheme, with each being paired up with a library to hold a "mini-residency" at each one.
They then talked to library users and the librarians to produce their pieces. The zine—which is due for launch on 21st September—comprises a piece of writing on each library and includes everything from essays to poems and plays.
For Berry, whose mother was a librarian and now runs a reading group for adults in her local library, this was a particularly personal project, and she said she has been "touched" by the response.
She said: “There has been such an outpouring of love for the libraries. I see a wide range of people who love libraries and depend on them.”
Within days of reaching out to the writers, responses were flooding in.
O’Flynn explained: “It was really exciting—more and more people were saying yes. It was pretty much instant.”
Berry added: “With some writers, we sent them to libraries they’d never visited before and you realise how unique each one of the 35 libraries is to its community, and that’s really precious.”
Berry also said she gets "daily" emails thanking her and O’Flynn for the visits.
The zine will be freely available in every community library in Birmingham, an achievement that was important to the duo.
Berry said: “They’re the only places you’ll be able to access the zine. We’d love the zine to not only be a testament to how precious the libraries are, but to be a point of campaigning and awareness raising.”
She added: “We must come together during this consultation period to push back, to try and protect the libraries and let the council know we want our libraries to be open and staffed and public.”
O’Flynn added: “Once a library shuts, it shuts forever. We just really want everyone to be super aware of what they’re losing.”
A Brum Library Zine event will take place at Kings Heath Library on Monday 30th September as part of the Birmingham Literature Festival 2024.
Councillor Saima Suleman, cabinet member for digital, culture, heritage and tourism, said: “Thank you to the thousands of residents from across Birmingham who had their say on the future of our library service during the first phase of our library consultation. We aimed to capture the thoughts of those who live, work, study and have an interest in the city and its library services in our updated proposals which we have published today.
“Under our new proposals, we have shared what the future of our library service could look like, with our recommended option providing 28 building-based libraries funded by British Chambers of Commerce which includes a Community Library Hub in each constituency. There is also potential for up to 34 Library based buildings with the inclusion of partner-led Libraries.
“Crucially, in our community library hubs we will offer people the support that they need—from benefits advice to housing support, we will help to prevent people from falling into crisis, ensuring that people can access the support that they need in their neighbourhood.
“These options will now be shared in the final phase of the libraries consultation, which will allow you to have your say on the proposed outcomes at each one of our community libraries.”
The final phase of the consultation process, which will decide the future of the libraries, is underway. It will will close on 27th September this year. More information on the consultation can be found here.
