Writing
Archive, an essay by Niloo Sharifi
Written October 2025'We decorate our lives with them. We leave our memories behind - then we collect them and keep them safe. There’s a living kernel of experience in archives. We cherish them because they are the residue of what is lost, something we get to hold onto.'
Commons, an essay by Jessie Jones
Written September 2025"You don’t need to prove that your time or value in the library is ‘equal’ or just as important as anybody else’s. Your ‘interest’ is validated just by being explored within its walls. If you have it, it’s here, it’s available as a thing to share in a space which, by its very nature, is common."
Sanctuary, an essay by Lynsey Hanley
Written August 2025"It felt as though those automatic library doors were never locked, and that you would be welcome, at any time of the day or night, to get lost in the safest place you could possibly think of."
A Day in the Life of Bootle Library
Written July 2025A Day in the Life of Bootle Library. New writing by Niamh Riordan illustrated by Jesse Warby "The last books of the day change hands. Someone asks “what’s on tomorrow?” The librarians are handed a thank you card. Someone pops in at the last minute to water the plants which sit on top of the library shelves, before the doors are closed for the night."
Soft Sanctuary Season — An Introduction by Bella Milroy
Written November 2021"A core part of my own creative practice as a disabled artist is continually inspired by concepts of public and private spaces, and where the sick and/or disabled body exists within them. What motivated me to consider what to include as part of this “nice day” for library goers and creatives alike, was to take advantage of the safety found within the public nature of the library."
Access as Meditation
Written September 2021A love letter to image descriptions and closed captions, by Bella Milroy. "In taking up the practice of creating image descriptions and closed captions for my Instagram posts and stories about two years ago, I found not only were these incredibly exciting forms of writing, but they were inadvertently creating small prompts for mindful, meditative reflection as to what I was that I was looking at, hearing, and feeling in that moment."
Sick Day Banquet
Written September 2021Sick Day Banquet is a collection of recipes designed by disabled artists Leah Clements, Kyla Harris, Raisa Kabir, Romily Alice Walden and Bella Milroy, celebrating their ideal sick day foods.
Sick Day Banquet — An Introduction by Bella Milroy
Written September 2020"As someone with chronic illness, food is an essential source of happiness for me. When pleasure is in such short demand living amongst pain, discomfort, uncertainty and stress, the food we eat and the way we experience it can be profoundly transformative in supporting our mental wellbeing."
When I Feel Bad — A Colouring Book
Written September 2019A colouring book created by Invalid Art, commissioned by Bella Milroy and At The Library for World Mental Health Day 2019 at Bootle Library.