We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tucson Tome Gnome a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tucson Tome Gnome, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?
As a nonprofit organization, our generosity is rooted in our mission: “The Tome Gnome strives to build a culture and community that is united in the joy of reading by providing free books to inspire literacy, reading, empathy, kindness, and happiness.” We live that mission by running a monthly bookish community scavenger hunt! Every month, we select and hide 45 copies of a book around the greater Tucson area. We also collaborate with local businesses and other nonprofit organizations to share books and support our community with random acts of bookish kindness.
Founded by three book lovers (Mary Ellen Flynn, Jody Hardy, and Emily Walsh), we were inspired to launch our nonprofit because we care deeply about the power of books to create a kinder community for all. Books can be windows into the realities of others, not just imaginary worlds. Books can be mirrors that reflect the lives of readers. Books can be sliding doors – readers can walk into a story and become part of the world created by the author – becoming fully immersed in another’s experience. Approaching the sharing of stories through the lens of windows, mirrors, and sliding doors prioritizes diversity, honors the beauty of cultural differences, and promotes empathy. This concept of books as windows, mirrors, and sliding doors was developed by Rudine Sims Bishop (a prominent researcher on the importance of multicultural literature), and this framework provides the foundation for our work, which is rooted in kindness, generosity, and building an accepting and inclusive community.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
As we described, one of the key components of our mission – and something that sets us apart from so many other literacy organizations – is our focus on creating book joy for older teens and adults. Additionally, the Tucson Tome Gnome passionately stands against the growing nationwide movement towards book bans and book censorship, and we strongly believe in the importance of reading diversely. Free people read freely. This informs a big part of how we decide which books to share with our community. Something that makes our nonprofit special is that we are Tucson’s first Book Sanctuary. As a book sanctuary, we are committed to:
– Collecting and protecting endangered books.
– Making those books broadly accessible (book hiding, anyone?).
– Hosting book talks and events, including sparking conversations about diverse characters and stories.
– Educating others on the history of book censorship.
We have two exciting collaborations coming up this spring:
1) We co-lead the “Solutions Focused Community Book Club” with the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and The Tucson Agenda. Our next meeting is on March 14, 2024, at the Community Foundation’s campus. We will be featuring the book Fire Weather by John Vaillant. You can learn more about the event (and RSVP!) here: https://cfsaz.org/event/solution-focused-community-book-club/
2) For our book-hiding in April, in celebration of National Poetry Month, we are partnering with Outspokin’ & Bookish and the University of Arizona’s Poetry Center to create a “Visual Poetry Zine of Tucson.” These community Zines will be shared during our April book-hiding and will also be available at the upcoming Tucson Zine Fest and at the UA Poetry Center. You can learn more here: https://tucsontomegnome.com/2024/02/05/submissions-open-now-visual-poetry-of-tucson-zine/
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities, skills, and areas of knowledge that have most impacted our journey as we developed and launched our nonprofit included:
1) Practicing patience
2) Keeping a focus on the mission of “book joy for adults”
3) Taking advantage of the right opportunities when they presented themselves… and being selective about NOT doing things that were not 100% mission-related.
For folks who are just starting out with a new venture, our advice is that you consider your “why” and always keep your mission at the forefront. Ensure that the original spark and passion that inspired you to start something continue to stay front and center in all that you do. Also, don’t hold yourself to unachievable goals (or think you need to do things just because “everyone else is doing them”). Honestly, our best advice is this: being in a startup mode can be difficult and stressful but also full of joy and opportunities – so don’t forget to take time to enjoy the ride and celebrate your successes!
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The most important book to our development as an organization was “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune. All three of us read the book during the early days of the pandemic and felt deeply comforted by the kind characters and comforting storyline focused on characters learning to love and appreciate themselves. The message was one of self-acceptance AND acceptance and kindness towards others. Basically, the book reflected our values. Because all three of us loved this book so much, we decided to launch the Tome Gnome by hiding 30 copies of it all over Tucson. In our original blog post about the book, we explained that we selected it because:
– It includes positive gnomish representation. Let’s be serious, we need more of this – we’re not as evil as everyone thinks that we are, we’re just mischievous…
– The story references tomes – wonderful, glorious tomes.
– At its core, the book is all about finding your family and accepting yourself. Who doesn’t need more of that?
– You will feel all of the feels – you’ll laugh, you might cry, and if nothing else, you’ll feel all warm and fuzzy!
– Every character is lovable yet flawed in believable ways – you’ll probably resonate with at least one character.
– This story is full of positive LGBTQ+ representation: love is love, friends ❤
Unexpectedly for us, we eventually got connected to the author (TJ Klune), who has since generously supported our work and joined us as a founding board member when the Tucson Tome Gnome officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. So now, the four of us meet regularly and strategize about how we can continue to bring book joy to Tucson!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tucsontomegnome.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tucsontomegnome/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tucsontomegnome
