Decolonizing, one book at a time

Decolonial Little Library started in Kirkendall and will be expanded across the city starting later this year.

Late in the summer of 2023, my partner Ryan and I were in the midst of our walking craze that took hold during my pregnancy and had us in a postpartum chokehold. We had a shared commitment to reach 10,000 steps every day. We'd load up our son into his stroller and hit the mean streets of Kirkendall.

During one of our mid-morning outings, we found ourselves across the Queen Street divide in Durand. On a sleepy, summer street, a lovely Little Free Library was standing proudly on the edge of someone's property. This wasn't the first time we'd seen one of these little acts of community and care. But something about this particular Little Free Library tipped the scales in our minds. We spent the rest of our 9,000 daily steps dreaming up our own little library. 

We wanted our library to offer our neighbours strictly Indigenous stories. We called it the Decolonial Little Library before we even had the physical library. 

We filled our upcycled newspaper box with books by Indigenous authors. I thought I knew what it was: a community project, a way for Ryan and me to put Indigenous stories in the hands of our neighbours. What I didn't know at the time was what our library project would teach me.

People helped restock it without being asked; they returned their books, donated from their own collections, and even dropped off $5 or $10 here and there to buy new books. In the evening, a parent and their pyjama-clad child came by to borrow a book for their bedtime story. The next day, they returned that book and found another. The Decolonial Little Library emptied and filled. Three years later, we've had over 1,000 books circulate through the library.

As the child of someone who was adopted out of their community and had their language, family, culture and teachings stolen from them, the work I do every day as a mother and business owner is rooted in my commitment to reclaiming all that was stolen. 

Building and caretaking the Decolonial Little Library taught me, through practice, about the Dish With One Spoon Wampum. A Haudenosaunee teaching I was very familiar with as a concept, came to life through our library. It became something I lived and witnessed. The shared responsibility to care for the world around us was alive in our community.

Starting this fall and over the course of next year, we will be expanding the Decolonial Little Library into community-hosted sites across Hamilton.

This family project, which started on a walk, is now part of the work we are doing at our recently launched Indigenous-owned storytelling studio, Indian & Cowboy Creative. 

The spirit and intention that built the library are the same as those that drive our studio. They are both rooted in our belief that Indigenous stories belong everywhere. 

Madeline Wilson Shaw is president and CEO of Indian & Cowboy Creative, an integrated storytelling studio located in downtown Hamilton. She brings nearly 20 years of experience as a music industry executive, senior political advisor, and community strategist to her role.