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Roanna Gonsalves, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, UNSW Sydney

I borrowed my first books in Mumbai. Now, Sydney’s libraries are home

Libraries Mumbai Sydney
Writers Jonty Claypole, Sophie Gee and Roanna Gonsalves at the State Library of NSW, Sydney. Joy Lai/State Library of NSW

The long arm of the library has made a writer of me. This long arm, a composite of many libraries, created the conditions through which a shy reader could continue to live in her head.

I was born and raised in India. It is a country of daily wage earners in makeshift dwellings trying to survive alongside the world’s richest individuals ensconced in immovable towers. It is also a country where the practice of circulating knowledge through libraries has a long history.

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