The most powerful lessons don’t always come from textbooks, sometimes they come from stepping into someone else’s life. Across Bosnia and Herzegovina, 437 students from 17 primary and secondary schools discovered a different kind of library- one where books breathe, speak, and share their stories.

Through the “Living Library” activity, students stepped into the lives of people whose experiences challenge stereotypes, prejudices, and the labels that often create divisions among peers. For many, it was an eye-opening experience.

“When I first came, I didn’t even know what it was going to be about; I had all kinds of thoughts. Then, when I walked in and saw all the different people, a hundred ideas came to my mind,” said Lea from Elementary School Harmani II in Bihać. “When the conversation started, I realised that I could relate in some ways, and it felt nice to just listen. I learned about their lives and what they have been going through.”

The chance to hear voices too often silenced or overlooked left an impression on students who admitted they, too, carried biases. “It’s great that we learned something new because we see all kind of contents in Internet and so on, I had some prejudices as well,” reflected Matea from the Fourth Elementary School in Brčko.

For others, the conversations became a mirror held up to society. “Our generations are increasingly looking only at themselves and everyone sees themselves as individuals and not at society as a collective and how we should behave. We should be less judgmental one another and understand differences. And that diversity is completely ok,” said Teodoroa from the Catering School in Banja Luka.

By the end, many students their knowledge grew and a new way of seeing people around them appeared. “I am glad that we got the opportunity to talk in such an open way with people we are seeing for the first time in our lives, who we would probably look wrongly outside of this space and outside of this project. Most likely we’d have some prejudices about them that were created for no reason, so I am very glad that I participated in this,” shared Kristina from Nikola Tesla Secondary School Centre in Vukosavlje.

The “Living Library” showed these young readers that the most lasting lessons aren’t found on pages- they’re found in listening to the stories of real lives.

The initiative is part of the broader European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”, through the action “Towards an equal, inclusive and tolerant Bosnia and Herzegovina” and the Council of Europe project “Combatting discrimination, hatred and racism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”