Sea Library

The sea-change of the Sea Library that I wrote about a couple of days ago has stirred so many questions in my inbox — and so many good words and “I’m in”s — that I’ll answer everything here.

Will the Sea Library be closed to visitors?

Yes. After seven years of being open to the public, the magical room in our house will be closed to visitors physically, but open in all other ways. It’s not a finish line — it’s the beginning of the next stage. “It is not down on any map; true places never are,” is one of my favorite quotes from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, one of the first books in the Sea Library collection.

Why?

There are many reasons.

First, the Sea Library is more than just a library — and it has never been a conventional one. It is an art project I started nearly ten years ago, when I began collecting books about the sea, blogging about them, finding like-minded spirits online, and going down to the beach whenever I could. A few years later, with the first 100 titles, I turned our house into an open library. For seven years, many visitors from near and far came by appointment.

The Covid years changed this only slightly: I started an online catalogue at sea-library.com and sent books by post all over the world — and every book returned after being read. After Covid, the visitors kept coming: neighbors, travelers, journalists. The Sea Library room changed with every month, as postcards, pebbles, and artworks gathered on its shelves and grew on its walls like barnacles and coral. A living, breathing artwork, created by all of you. These first seven years have taught me to trust, to believe, to dream — and also, to swim.

Second, I want to shift the spotlight back to the books and stories themselves, rather than the physical experience of visiting. Reading more books is all I want to do — and all I want others to do too.

Third, I always follow where the sea — and the Sea Library — take me. One of the most powerful things about this library is its almost magical quality, its ability to inspire. Like a good book, the Sea Library gives hope, ignites curiosity, and makes kindness viral. Imagination knows no borders, and the Sea Library pushes me to go even further and explore more.

It was crazy enough to let strangers into our home and give them books for free (if you speak in grown-up terms), but it turned out to be as magical as it could be. With 1,000 titles now — many of them donated by you — the Sea Library gives me the courage to step into the next stage and see where it takes us.

What if the Sea Library becomes a fiction? A mythical place some have visited, while others don’t believe such a place exists? But what if you can be part of this fictional place — one you can never reach on foot, but can still correspond with? A library that isn’t even there (or is it?), but you can still borrow books from? Like chatting with Ishmael on the phone — impossible, yet real.

One idea is to flood the boundary between fiction and non-fiction (because there is none). The other is to highlight the culture of letters — something already dear to the Sea Library’s life. I find a special, calming, slowing-down power in it.

What will happen to the Sea Library room?

Nothing! It will remain the Sea Library — the ever-growing, ever-changing sea beast, created by all of you. All books, postcards, gifts, flotsam and jetsam will find their place here. It will continue to grow like a reef of love. Like a protected marine area, I will take care of it — but also let it be wild and free. I’ll take photos and videos and show you how it changes, thanks to you. Let’s see what happens next. Maybe, after this stage of being a mythical place you can’t reach on foot, it will reopen as a wondrous artwork — something even richer and stranger. Let’s see!

So what now?

I’m wary of planning too much or too strictly. I want the journey to carry me — and you with me.

First, you can bookmark beachbooks.blog, where I’ll continue to blog and share interviews, stories about the sea, and more. Also sea-library.com, where all books and gifts will eventually appear online — for you to see and borrow. As I step away from social media (which I feel now belongs to the past and is no longer what it once was), these two sites will be where you’ll find me. Maybe I’ll create a newsletter or something like that — we’ll see. I know about Substack and similar platforms, but I’ll try to stick to WordPress to avoid juggling too many places.

Second, I love notes, emails, and letters. Please write to me at beachbooksblog@gmail.com with book suggestions, seaside photos, quotes you’d like to share, or your own story about why you’re part of the big blue community. If you’d like to send a postcard or write a letter on paper, I’ll send you my address.

Third, I once created a survey to get to know you better — 17 of you answered, and although I haven’t yet acted on your answers, they truly warmed my heart. Now feels like the right time. If you haven’t filled it out yet and want to — please do! Let’s see where it takes us.

I have a few more ideas, but I want to let the letter culture lead the way and see where the sea beast swims next.

How can I borrow a book from the Sea Library?

Some Sea Library friends use the collection as a source of information — to discover beautiful books about the sea and then buy their own copies or borrow them from a local library. Others borrow directly from the Sea Library — and that brings me so much joy. If you live far away, I’m more than happy to pay postage one way and send the book to you. I even have a special budget for that — a kind of treasure chest. When you’re finished, just send the book back if you can afford the return postage. It might sound strange, but I have readers all over the world who love borrowing from this odd little library on the Baltic Sea coast. One reader in England even lets me choose what books to send next. There are so many ways to be part of the Sea Library community!

Woun’t you miss the visitors?

Maybe. But hey — I’m not going anywhere.

Yesterday was proof of the magic that new stages can bring. A Sea Library friend, Diana, lives in Madrid but sometimes stays in Jūrmala. She wanted to return five books she had borrowed last summer. Since the Sea Library has now floated off as a mythical island 🙂 I took Nemo, my beloved border collie, and my backpack, and we traveled by train to meet her. We took a lovely walk through the forest. I packed the books into my bag and returned home. A lovely mobile library!

You never know where decisions will take you — but it’s always worth trying to change something, even a little, to unlock new roads, new paths, new waters.

Thank you to everyone who said, “I’m in!” Hop on board — we have a voyage ahead of us!

Yours,

Anna x