June holds space for three movements that, at first glance, mark different communities, but share a common thread: the right to belong, to be seen, and to live with safety and dignity.
This month, we recognize Pride, National Indigenous History Month, and World Refugee Day (June 20). Each tells a story of people who have been told they don’t fit, don’t belong, or don’t deserve a place, and who refused to accept that.
Pride reminds us that love and identity know no borders.
World Refugee Day honours those forced to cross borders in search of safety, carrying their whole selves into new and unfamiliar places.
And National Indigenous History Month asks us to remember that long before any borders were drawn across this land, communities lived and thrived here, and continue to do so.
These histories intersect. There are refugees who are queer, fleeing persecution for who they love. There are Two-Spirit people whose identities were honoured by their nations long before colonial systems tried to suppress them. Belonging has never fit neatly inside the lines someone else drew.
For World Refugee Day this year, we’ve gathered a small lending library of books that carry refugee voices and journeys, for readers young and grown. Each one offers a way into experiences of displacement, resilience, and the search for home.
- A Long Walk to Water, Linda Sue Park
- In My Mother’s Footsteps, Mona Hajjar Halaby
- The Refugees,Viet Thanh Nguyen
- City of Thorns, Ben Rawlence
- Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
- Ayah and the Big World Outside, Souad Shehab
- Land of the Cranes, Aida Salazar
These books are available to borrow; contact us and we’ll arrange it.
We note with sadness the passing of Marjane Satrapi (1969–2026), author of Persepolis, who died this week. Her work turned a childhood under revolution into a story that crossed every border, exactly the kind of voice this collection hopes to honour.