Book Tales: Storytelling through the lives of readers past and present
Published: 29 October 2025
The University of Glasgow and The Mitchell Library invite you to explore the rich and historical life of books in a series of engaging Being Human Festival events in November.
Have you ever picked up a second-hand book and wondered who held it before you?
Who was the Josie or Jack who received it as a gift, with a loving note tucked inside from a parent or grandparent?
Pressed flowers, doodles in the margins, scribbled thoughts and dog-eared pages all are quiet traces reminding us that readers of the past were not so different from us.
This November, the University of Glasgow and The Mitchell Library invite you to explore the rich and historical life of books in a series of engaging Being Human Festival events led by Dr Shanti Graheli, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature.
Joined by Professor Adrian Streete (English Literature) and Bob MacLean (University of Glasgow Archive & Special Collections), the programme celebrates books not just as texts, but as cherished objects that carry the marks of their readers. On 6 November, researchers Dr Michelle Craig (Information Studies), Rachael Tarrant and Heather Caldwell (English Literature) will illuminate how books tell stories through their physical form - doodles, inscriptions and worn pages. Later in the month, the Books "Antiques" Roadshow invites attendees to bring a book that holds personal meaning and share its story. As Dr Graheli puts it: “Tell us what makes it valuable to you.”
The events programme will explore how books carry the fingerprints of those who loved them and how they connect us across generations. The programme, part of the national Being Human Festival whose theme this year is ‘Between the Lines’, does not just look to the past but also to future generations who will read our own notes or messages to a loved one in books.
Dr Graheli’s research at the University of Glasgow focuses on the marks readers leave behind including annotations, gift inscriptions, multilingual notes, and even doodles.
Dr Graheli, who is based at the University of Glasgow’s School of Modern Languages & Cultures said: “The value of a book doesn’t stop with the text. Books continue to live on through the people who read them. These marks tell us about the lives of readers past and present and they’re also a bridge to the future.”
She shares a poignant example from her own life: an Italian-language copy of George Elliot’s Middlemarch passed between her grandmother and her sisters before adding: “It came back covered in tape after months of intense reading. My grandmother even reread it again before returning it to me so we could talk about it. It’s the most precious thing I own and every time I look at it, I’m transported back to her and her sisters.
“I still have the copy with the tape that my grandmother and her sisters put on it to kind of mend it. That remains for me, a very special memory of the women in my family and how we connected by sharing this one copy of Middlemarch.”
Another example for a research project that Dr Graheli is working on is a book from the library of James Sutherland (1639-1719), the first Regius Keeper at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
She said: “It is very special because it's a botanical picture book from Antwerp, with illustrations and the names of the plants given in different languages. It was made for multilingual readers. Sutherland used it to write about the plants in his garden, for example which ones blossomed in March or April. The keen gardener of a hardy garden in the heart of Edinburgh, he knew that his plants might not behave quite in the same way as his continental books described. So he observes what is around him and records it in the book. Lots of other readers used their books as a way to look at the world and record what they saw and felt.”
The Mitchell Library was chosen as a key partner for these events due to its deep ties to family history and genealogical research.
Dr Graheli said: “It’s the heart of Glasgow’s memory. I am so thrilled to be collaborating with them to showcase items that speak to the theme of ‘reading between the lines.’”
Susan Taylor, Librarian at The Mitchell Library, Glasgow Life said: “Books are more than just stories, they’re vessels of memory, emotion, and connection. We’re proud to be part of this initiative and share some of our books which help highlight the invisible threads that bind readers across time.”
The series includes events at the University of Glasgow’s Library & Advanced Research Centre and The Mitchell Library, inviting families, children and book lovers of all ages to explore the emotional and historical life of books.
Dr Graheli added: “Notes and writing in books, are not just a bridge to the past, they are also a bridge to the future. I think that's a really crucial thing for me, that it is a way for a book to live forward and for our thoughts recorded in that book to live forward.”
Book Tales: Storytelling Between Text and Object
As part of Being Human Festival, the Book Tales: Storytelling Between Text and Object series are being held at both The Mitchell and the University of Glasgow’s Library.
Those involved in the series include:
- Heather Caldwell, School of Critical Studies
- Dr Michelle Craig, School of Humanities | Sgoil nan Daonnachdan
- Calum Esler, School of Modern Languages & Cultures
- Dr Shanti Graheli, School of Modern Languages & Cultures
- Yujia Jin,
- Bob MacLean, Library
- Professor Adrian Streete, School of Critical Studies
- Susan Taylor, The Mitchell Library, Glasgow
- Rachael Tarrant, School of Critical Studies
All the events for the Book Tales: Storytelling Between Text and Object at the University and Mitchell are free to attend but booking is preferred for the events on 8 and 13 November to help manage space limitations:
Book Tales (suitable for adults and families)
Date: 6 November 2025,
Time: 16:30 - 18:30
Location: University of Glasgow Library, Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QE
Book your Place: Book Tales | Being Human Festival
Make Your Own Book (Suitable for families and children aged 8-12.)
Date: Saturday 8 November 2025,
Time: 13:30 - 16:30
Location: The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN
Book Your Place: Make Your Own Book! | Being Human Festival
Books "Antiques" Roadshow (Suitable for adults and families)
13 November 2025
16.30 to 19.30 at The Old Glasgow Room, The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN.
Details are here: Books "Antiques" Roadshow | Being Human Festival
The Mitchell Library
The Mitchell Library is one of Europe’s largest public libraries with more than a million items. Its collections include books, maps, drawings, photographs, postcards, and resources for family history. More here: The Mitchell Library - Glasgow Life
Being Human Festival 2025
Being Human Festival 2025 is taking place from 6 - 15 November with the theme 'Between the Lines'. This year's programme, running from 6 - 15 November 2025. With over 220 events taking place in 46 towns and cities across the UK, there is a wide range of events rooted in humanities research.
The festival theme 'Between the Lines' invites researchers to collaborate with arts organisations, charities, museums, community groups and more to explore boundaries, crossings and intersections – the spaces in between, where meaning is made and remade. Exploring everything from migration to motherhood and boardgames to beer, this year's festival is shaping up to be one to remember.
Stories From Glasgow: Reading Between the Lines
You can also hear more about Dr Shanti Graheli’s research in this filed by listing into the latest episode of College of Arts & Humanities Stories From Glasgow podcast.
Dr Graheli joins podcast host Dr Cia Jackson for a conversation all about materiality, memory, and meaning. They reflect on what – and who – can make books valuable and form connections between readers across borders and generations.
Dr Graheli also shares her manifesto on why we should begin to leave written traces of ourselves in between the lines of our own books, as well as what to expect from the upcoming Book Tales event series.
The award winning Stories From Glasgow podcast explores the impact of art, literature, culture and history from world leading researchers in the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts & Humanities.
Listen in here – https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/aboutus/socialmedia/podcast/headline_1222059_en.html
First published: 29 October 2025