Books at Bus Stops in Brasília

You know that feeling when you’re waiting at a bus stop and you just wish you had something to read? Well, for bus passengers on route W3 Norte in Brasília, this problem is well and truly over, thanks to the splendid new initiative Parada Cultural developed by Luiz Amorim, the brains behind NGO T-Bone – Açouge Cultural.

The idea is simple: a stall at the bus stop where anyone, whether waiting for a bus or not, can borrow books for free. The idea came from the fact that many Brazilians do not have easy access to books. Municipal libraries in Brazil are rare, and when they do exist, book enthusiasts must battle through bureaucracy in order to use them.

The new bus stop libraries involve almost no paperwork. During the day a member of staff notes down the details of borrowed books and after 6pm the borrower can simply take a book and leave a note with contact details. Books are available 24 hours a day, there are no due dates, no charges for borrowing and no fines.

The projects started at the bus stop 712/712 W3 Norte, and four other mini-libraries have since been set up at other bus stops in Brasília.

Originally from Bahia, 42 year old Luiz Amorim arrived in Brasília aged 12 in 1973. He was a shoeshine boy before he moved into the back room of a small butcher’s shop and began work as an assistant. He taught himself to read and fell in love with books. In 1994 the owners sold up, Luiz bought the business, and set up the world’s first library in a butcher’s shop. In his first year as owner, he put a shelf of books next to the meat counter and allowed customers to borrow the books for free, with no bureaucracy involved. The library grew and grew with donations, and after a few years there were over a thousand books next to the meat counter. The library was then closed down for breaking health and safety regulations. Amorim pursued sponsors and in 2002 opened his library in another building. The space became a cultural centre, which now hosts Saraus, readings and other literary events.

For the bus stop project, Açouge Cultural has so far raised 40 Thousand Reais from sponsors Caesb, (The Federal Government Water and Sewage Company) and the Spanish Embassy in Brazil. The organisation is now seeking further sponsors to adopt more bus stops.

Read more about T-Bone – Açouge Cultural and the inspiring rags to riches tale of its founder, here. (in Portuguese). And all about the project Parada Cultural, here.

Writing this post, it occurred to me that those budding Brazilians amongst my readers might be tempted to anglicize Açouge Cultural as Cultural Butchers. Non-native English readers of this blog please take note: This is a terrible translation for Açouge Cultural. The verb to butcher in English means to destroy, to decimate, and likewise its derivative noun. Hence Cultural Butcher does not exactly do this excellent project the justice it deserves. This highlights an example of an interesting challenge to the translator to not make the name sound at worst contradictory and at best, plain silly. Parada Cultural is also not as simple as it seems to translate to English. Ideas, anyone?