Human Library (On World Mental Health Day 2026, honouring the official theme and tagline 'Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change', in association with Human Library Organisation Denmark & Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Regional Coordinating Institute)
"An unnarrated life is not worth living"
Stories are windows to the ecology of mind, but are seldom given due importance, even in institutional contexts. For example, complaints/ grievances that are stories of suffering are nipped in the bud by illegitimate power-wielding authority groups, paving the way for a biased, singular story to emerge, leading to a seismic collapse of fundamental rights, meaning, mental health and life itself for the victims. Mental health research and Constitutional Court rulings in India foreground the imperative of listening to stories seriously. Stories help build empathy by releasing oxytocin in the brain, deepening human connection and prompting remedial action, neuropsychological research reveals. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised the power of storytelling in achieving public health outcomes.
On World Mental Health Day 2026, honouring the official theme and tagline Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change, we invite you to flip through the pages of fifteen human books at Human Library. IIT Palakkad is the host institute for the Human Library, held in association with Human Library Organisation, Denmark, and Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Regional Coordinating Institute, IITPKD.
In deep reverence for the official theme of World Mental Health Day centering Lived Experiences, the initiative aims to help learn to appreciate individual differences, diverse social locations and understand the dynamics of social and institutional barriers, stigma and discrimination that are powerful determinants of mental distress, including deaths by suicide.
Registration (Open only to IITPKD community)
The Human Library will be held in two 1-hour slots (Slot I: 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. & Slot II: 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.), allowing a reader to read up to two books (one in each slot). If you are interested in being a reader of any of these books, please fill out the Google Forms for Slot 1 and Slot 2 by signing in to Google.
Only the first five 5 registrants will be allowed to read a book in addition to a Human Library Volunteer Librarian. If the first 5 registered participants don't show up, entry will be granted based on registration timestamps. The small number of readers is quite intentional: the heart of the Human Library is dialogue and conversation, rather than the Human Books answering questions from a large group. With more people, it can quickly feel more like a Q&A or a presentation, which changes the nature of the experience.
