Refugees

[close] During the month of February, we will encourage an ongoing, online discussion of "Outcasts United" by Warren St. John - the 2018 selection for Salem Reads, organized by the Salem Public Library Foundation as a One Community, One Book project.

[close] Dear Readers, We are a diverse group of Bonn residents, refugees and volunteers, newcomers and old Bonners who feel that we should talk more with and less about each other. Our aim is to connect, to explore what we have in common and to cherish our diversity, different backgrounds and experiences. One way we can always relate to each other is through our shared culture, humanity and good reads. That's why we decided to launch a multilingual digital book club with regular meet-ups to foster intercultural exchange and discover together unknown authors and world literature. We are meeting every first Wednesday of the month at 6 pm at the "Literarischer Salon" of the central library in Bonn. We want to open our horizons and share our stories and ideas. The plan is to select a theme, book, or writer and discuss the work both online and offline. We will post some questions and further info to get things started, but we would love for this to grow into an open discussion with and between all of you. We will invite authors and other voices (journalists and experts on the topic) to join the conversation. The Bonnections book club is part of a digital story telling project and intercultural blog, initiated by refugees and volunteers. Please join up and participate. Everyone is warmly welcome! We are looking forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions. Your Bonnections Team

[close] Read books on the immigrant/refugee experience, fiction or non-fiction, in any language, in any country, from any era.

[close] Welcome! In 2016, discussions about the refugee crisis among a group of friends and acquaintances gave wings to the creation of Hearts and Homes for Refugees (www.heartsandhomesforrefugees.org). With an unprecedented number of refugee stories populating bookshelves these days, there are so many more opportunities to learn, to understand the crisis and come to know these stories of need and hope. We can all contribute to these discussions and perhaps in some small way, our dialogue will flow outside our group chats and into our circle of friends and communities. Who knows where these seeds will land grow? We would like to believe that the more informed we are, the more discussions we have, the greater chance of our becoming part of the solution to the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. In 2019, we read one book each month on the topic of refugees, and enjoyed talking about them here with you. We have added many more suggestions to our group "bookshelf" since then, and hope you will enjoy our recommendations.