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Check out some interesting people at our Human Library, where volunteer “books” will help create dialogue and understanding based on their own personal stories.
The Human Library is a library of people and their experiences with prejudice. Instead of paperbacks, actual people are on loan for conversations. This is a drop-in event, so feel free to stop by any time between 12:30 and 4 p.m. Once you arrive, you will have the opportunity to sign up to speak with the books of your choice. The concept is about acknowledging and challenging the prejudice that we all carry toward one another. The Human Library creates a safe space for conversation where topics that may be taboo, marginalized or stigmatized can be openly addressed without judgement.
Learn more about the Human Library Organization →
I’m a first-generation refugee from Vietnam. During the war, my parents fought on the South Vietnamese side as U.S. allies. My father was a helicopter pilot in the Air Force, trained at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and my mother worked with the American embassy. After the war, they chose to stay in Vietnam, hoping to help rebuild the country. But growing tensions due to their past eventually led to our family home being destroyed by the Communist government. That moment changed everything. It set my family on the path to seek asylum and begin a new life in Northwest Arkansas. My story is about how that single event shaped the course of my life—how I’ve learned to reconcile my traditional Asian upbringing with life in the American South, what it means to move beyond fitting in toward belonging, and how I continue to find my identity along the way.
"Off the Grid" has been living in isolated, rural Washington County for over 27 years, off the grid, with solar electric before it was readily available. He takes drinking water from a well, tends a small flock of chickens, makes a small garden, and collects wild edibles. He has a working artist studio and a small cabin. That description brings connotations and stereotypes about back-to-the-landers, hippies, hillbillies, survivalists and rednecks, but Off the Grid isn’t sure any of these apply to him.
After betrayal, loss, and emotional collapse, I found myself forced to start over, learning how to live alone, rediscover my worth, and rebuild my life from the ground up after my ex-wife had an affair with her best friend's husband and my mom received a terminal cancer diagnosis in the same three-month period. This is a story about surviving devastation and discovering that healing is terrifyingly beautiful.
I am currently homeless, and every day I face judgment from people who don’t know my story, along with constant safety concerns that make it hard to rest or feel secure. I became homeless after a series of setbacks that I couldn’t recover from, and that’s why I’m in this situation now. Despite everything, I still hold hope for a future where I can rebuild my life, find stability, and feel safe again.
Addiction nearly stole my life, my family, and my faith. But what felt like the end became my beginning. Through recovery, faith, and years of rebuilding, I’ve turned my pain into purpose. I now lead others through recovery and advocacy work, proof that no matter how far you fall, there’s always a way back and a way forward.
Emerging from a fractured family system and being raised by a resilient single mother, One Thousand Invisible Deaths held onto hope for her future. She imagined that becoming a wife and mother would absorb the ache of her past. However, adulthood unfolded differently—marked by infertility, early menopause, a career change, and a spouse’s battle with severe mental illness and addiction that led to incarceration. One Thousand Invisible Deaths is the story of learning to live through what cannot be seen—grieving the invisible, rebuilding after the unimaginable, and ultimately discovering that a meaningful life can still grow from loss.
Read about the story of a biracial young lady who grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was raised by her white mother, but walked with a different set of rules that society had bestowed on her than her mother. This story examines the life of an individual who has grown up in a mixed-up state, not being able to identify as black or white, but somewhere in between. Her journey has left her with a perspective that is able to break down racial barriers and represent what life can look like when you truly live all mixed up!
"Breaking Borders" aims to share an account of her childhood in the Philippines and life as an immigrant in the United States. She will share experiences of childhood domestic violence and the grip of toxic matriarchy, all of which have shaped her messy but enriched life as a mom, preacher's wife, and woman of color. This book aspires to break down mental health stigmas, prejudices, and generalizations of hate that can divide our community.
This is the story of when I decided to cancel the revocation of my parental rights for my newborn daughter, who was in the process of being adopted. Five days after she was born, I exercised my right to change my mind and get her back. What was a devastating time and an incredibly hard decision to make, turned into a beautiful story of family being formed of people that you choose! We ended up moving to Fayetteville to live with her would-have-been adoptive parents when she was 3 months old, and have been here ever since.
A is for Adam, Z is for Zealot deconstructed from Christian Nationalism. She grew up in a fundamentalist household with a cult-like church and school. Her life got turned upside down when she was kicked out and had to go to public school. She broke free from undiagnosed selective mutism and learned about different viewpoints. Swinging to both extremes, from Nondenominational Communist to Traditional Catholic Theocratic Monarchist, she fully deconstructed four years ago.
The Sound of Becoming is a lyrical, reflective memoir that traces how a life can be shaped, note by note, through migration, motherhood, artmaking, and community. It explores how identity forms in motion, how growth happens in tension, and how belonging is forged through sound, not only through music, but through attention, listening, and the courage to respond.
It is the story of a woman becoming many things at once: artist, mother, immigrant, advocate, administrator, daughter, teacher. It is also a meditation on the unseen architectures that hold a life together: care, creativity, lineage, and the powerful fusion of memory and imagination. Each chapter is a window and a mirror, opening outward into the world while reflecting the inner landscape that shapes every choice, every note, every act of leadership and love.
Throughout my life, I’ve been given many labels — immigrant, survivor, teen mom, single mom, and special needs parent. But none of these titles truly define who I am. Behind each one is a story of love, hope, and resilience. I’ve faced challenges that could have broken me, but instead they shaped me. From surviving domestic violence and rebuilding from nothing, to learning how to advocate for my children with disabilities, every chapter of my life has taught me that strength comes from perseverance and self-discovery. My story is proof that we are more than the labels we’re given — we are the stories we write beyond them.
This memoir reveals a journey from pain to purpose. I am a survivor at heart. I have survived child abuse. I have survived infertility issues. I have survived cancer. But life is about more than just surviving the trials; it is about overcoming pain to find the hope that life offers. My journey to overcoming was tied to my faith, which allowed me to face my trauma, learn to trust, believe in miracles, find peace, and get to forgiveness. My purpose is to help break the cycles of silence, shame and hurt for other survivors working to overcome.
My story is a common one, but each story through the disease of alcoholism is unique. I drank for 33 years, with profound impacts on those that I love most. After my lowest point, I knew I had to change. I sought change through treatment and faith, committing myself to the work of sobriety each and every day. I have a beautiful life and have been sober for 28 years and counting. My purpose is to help those that are still struggling with this disease and to offer hope that it is never too late to change.
A story of someone with ADHD who just did what they found interesting. While the world encouraged him to "pick something", he continued to be curious and listen to himself. What unfolded is something he could not have even scripted himself.
Growing up on the Navajo reservation with her family and siblings until the age of 11, Walking Two Moons was always so certain she was a true Diné woman - until she returned home, and her relatives called her an "apple." Red on the outside, white on the inside. While also navigating the rest of the United States, Alaynna's story opens the discussion of walking two moons on the same world. As an American and as Diné woman.
All abilities are welcome. For disability accommodations, call 479.856.7250 or email questions@faylib.org 2-3 weekdays before a program. Plan your visit by viewing our building map and details on accessibility services.
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