Meet the Libby Team Celebrating Literacy Around the World
The 8th September marks International Literacy Day, a day to remember the critical importance of literacy in our world. The ability to read, write, speak and listen is a human right for everyone and it connects us to the world!
One of the most accessible ways to engage in literacy (at any age) is to use your local library. There’s a reason we talk so much at Libby about how much we love libraries - they create free, accessible reading for all and are a resource we all should be using. In 2017, IFLA was able to count more than 2 million libraries in 99 countries… that’s a lot of access to literacy right there!
This is your reminder: if you do not already have a library card, pop into your local library today.
Your library card doesn’t just bring you access to your physical library either - it also gives you access to thousands of audiobooks, eBooks and magazines right from your pocket, via Libby. Plus you can set your language preferences in the app, and many libraries offer language learning resources too.
You can take Libby everywhere! Whether it’s reading an eBook on your morning commute or listening to an audiobook while doing the dishes, books help us travel all over the world every day.
Fancy a trip around the world right now? Follow our socials for the U.S., UK, Germany, Australia/New Zealand, and check out our social media managers’ book recommendations for each country below!
First up: Australia/New Zealand
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Why Katie recommends the titles below: "I chose these books to celebrate the diversity of storytelling from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, from fun contemporary fiction to powerful First Nations voices and perspectives."
Katie's Recs (Australia/New Zealand)
Chosen Family
by Madeleine Gray
An exuberant and irreverently funny novel about one gorgeously messy friendship-feud-unrequited-love-affair set in Sydney across eighteen years.
The Axeman's Carnival
by Catherine Chidgey
A dazzling portrayal of humanity and the natural world that perfectly balances violence and humor
Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia
by Samantha Faulkner
What makes Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait unique? And what is it like to be a Torres Strait Islander in contemporary Australia? Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia, compiled by poet and author Samantha Faulkner, showcases the distinct identity of Torres Strait Islanders through their diverse voices and journeys.
Next up: United Kingdom
See why Emily recommends their titles below:
Emily's Recs (U.K.)
The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their epic quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.
Why Emily chose this title: "It’s a classic! Are you even English if you’ve not read LOTR!?"
My Animals and Other Family
by Clare Balding
Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer, she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses, mares, foals and ponies, as well as an ever-present pack of boxers and lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef and take breakfast with the Queen.
She and her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices, they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals, and through their adventures in the stables and the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie and the frisky Hattie, each horse and each dog had their own character and their own special part to play.
Why Emily chose this title: "I adore the descriptive storytelling."
Intermezzo
by Sally Rooney
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller Normal People, an exquisitely moving story about grief, love and family. Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined. For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude - a period of desire, despair and possibility - a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
Why Emily chose this title: "This is a book I believe everyone should read."
Now: United States
Why Amanda recommends the titles below: "I chose these three books because I find reading to be very personal. Working for Libby, I’m surrounded by extremely avid readers, and that can sometimes make me feel self-conscious about my own reading habits. But I’m a big believer in meeting yourself where you’re at: read what you love, DNF what you don’t, and don’t worry about reading the “right” way. These are books I’ve connected with at different stages of my life and see pieces of myself in. That’s what I love most about reading: sometimes a story can make you feel less alone."
Amanda's Recs (U.S.)
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.
The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals—steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
Daisy Jones & the Six
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup.
Remember to check out Libby socials for the U.S., UK, Germany, Australia/New Zealand on Instagram!
Can't find these titles in your Libby? Use the Notify Me feature to request titles to be added to your library's digital collection.
Published Sep 07, 2026
Emily Pollard
Emily is a social media professional with 8 years of experience and manages the Libby UK Instagram. Outside of work, you can usually find them reading a fantasy novel with their cat Ricky, searching for birds or mushrooms in their local forest or playing board games!