blackbird books in mitrovicë/a, kosovo

2011-03-31T04:36:00.001-07:00

Our library provides free access to literature for the local community. Read our complete mission statement here.

In north Mitrovica, Blackbird Books shares a facility with the many good people at CRYM (the Center for Resources, Youth and Media). In south Mitrovica we are housed in the old OSCE building, in a new space created by local cultural NGO 7 Arte. We are in the process of expanding our library. Donations of books in any language are welcome. Read about how to donate from abroad here. Blackbird Books also produces occasional cultural events, like this one and this one.

our facility in north mitrovica

2011-03-31T04:31:00.000-07:00

Photos of our library in the CRYM building.

how and where to mail us

2009-11-12T00:41:00.000-08:00

Send your literature to

Blackbird Books
c/o Anthony Barilla
Fah 157
40010 Mitrovicë/a
Kosovo

Be sure to include your name and return address. We know that sending small packages to Kosovo isn't cheap, so send it as inexpensively as possible: no need for airmail. Read our post on U.S. postal rates for information on shipping from the states. It'll take awhile to arrive, but it will be here in plenty of time for our opening.

And please also read about difficulties we face regarding the mail. Kosovo's legal status as a region is in a bit of a limbo, so please doublecheck that your local postal employee understands the package's destination.

which books we need

2009-11-12T00:40:00.000-08:00

Here's the four main categories we're stocking:

1. the CLASSICS. We love Goethe. We adore Faulkner. We think very highly of Herman Hesse, George Orwell, Flannery O'Conner and Gunter Grass. Tolstoy, Borges and Dostoyevsky were class acts. You get the idea.

2. the MODERN. It's hard to draw the line between "classics" and these guys, but Barthelme, Bukowski, DeLillo, Deborah Eisenberg and WG Sebald are all writers that we need to represent. You can probably think of others.

3. the OTHER. Zines, comics, graphic novels and more - probably the most difficult thing to find in Kosovo.

Here's a simple rule: if it changed your life, we want it to change someone else's too.

If you're reading this right now, then your books are probably in English. No problem—in fact a lot of people here prefer books in English. We just want to make sure that they have access to the coolest literature possible, and duplicate donations will be sold to accomplish our other cultural goals. We'll honor your contribution with a bookplate. Send your books here.

difficulties in mailing us

2008-03-27T03:02:00.000-07:00

We would like to extend our heartfelt apologies regarding the substantial number of returned or lost books sent to our charity lately. We realize that many of you are spending your finite resources trying to make a difference for our charity, and that it is frustrating to receive your books back. We are doing our best to rectify the situation here, and below we offer an explanation of the problems we face – as well as the possible solutions.

The recognition of Kosovo as an independent country is—to put it mildly—a contentious issue in our town and throughout the region. Because we are a non-profit organization focused only on putting good literature into the hands of young people, we are trying to address this political matter as neutrally as possible. The problem is two-fold:

Mitrovicë/a is an ethnically divided town. There are two post offices, each serving separate population. The post offices answer to different government authorities and do not communicate. Most packages labeled “Serbia” or “Serbia & Montenegro” are being forwarded to the post office in north Mitrovica. Due to the current political climate, none of us are able to visit this post to pick up parcels. This problem is confounded by the fact that...
Many other nations have not ascribed an official postal status to the new Republic of Kosovo (including the U.S. ) Therefore, even if you try to mail packages to the Republic of Kosovo without adding “Serbia” or “Serbia & Montenegro,” you may be met by bureaucratic resistance from your own postal service.

In short: we no longer expect to receive any packages labeled “Serbia” or “Serbia & Montenegro.” We hope to address this issue in two ways:

We are interested in receiving books from donors who have the option of mailing to Kosovo. If you know that your post office accepts “Republic of Kosovo” as a national destination, and if you would like to donate books to our cause, please do not hesitate to contact me.
We are also grateful to anyone who feels like they want to take on the machine that is the post office. See if your local post office will let you send a postcard to us at

Blackbird Books
c/o Anthony Barilla
Fah 157
40010 Mitrovicë/a
Republic of Kosovo

If they do, send us an email and let us know that we can be expecting your correspondence. This will help us determine the mailing practices on a nation-by-nation basis. If they don’t let you send us a postcard without adding “Serbia” to the address, ask them why not? Try explaining that you’re helping a charity. Maybe, with your help, we can figure out a solution.

articles about us

2007-11-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

An article at Peshku Pa Ujë about Blackbird Books.
An article at Estella's Revenge about Blackbird Books.
And an article in our very own local "M Magazine":

our donors

2007-08-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

Below is a list of some of our donors: find out how to join them here!

Aurora Ailincai and the Council of Europe, Dale Ahlquist, Steve Aylett, Harrod Blank, Betty Baer, George and Patricia Barilla, Rosemary Barilla and Kevin Deuschle, Denika Blacklock, Evan Bwala, Arbër Çeliku, Michelle Cicic, Tiffany Couser, Benny Gaughran, David Gaughran, Gary Coghlan, Gerard Gallucci, Jessica Gaughran, Kate Gaughran, Mary Gaughran, Jerome Guehenneau, Mrs. Jane Grube, Mrs. Debra Wester Grube, Aida Guillen, Florent Hajrizi, Carolyn Hammer & Andrew Sodroski, Besnik Hasanaj, Ms. Heather L. Hecimovich, Jorie Horsthuis, Ardian Hyseni, Mirjam Karoly and Dieter Halwachs, Joe Kazlas, Chris Kemmerer, Kenneth W. Kemp, Haris Kurti, Ms. Peggy J. MacArthur, Alex Laskaris, Tommy Marum, Mr. Patrick M. McCarthy, Alex Melbourne, Natalie Mitchell, Dr. Annemarie Monohan, Margaret and Will Muir, Vladimir Nikolaev, Meredith O'Brien, Karin Oliver, Aimee Patterson, Jennifer Patterson and Karen Watkins, Kathy Pavlick, Don Saccone, Ena Sauer, Ms. Susan Marie Suleski, Silvian Surugiu, Javiera Thais, Teuta Shabani Towler, Ljubisa Velikic, Francesca Vigagni, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Whitehead, Tek Wilson & Kevin Bakos, Beth Wing, Mandy Zeckra, Kasia Zeremba and especially American KFOR and the German Office, Pristina

Major Support provided by the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program and the U.S. Office, Pristina

Corporate donors include:
Market Xhafi and Bookmooch.com

and the many many many generous donors of bookmooch
who have grown too numerous to list on this page. please check the link above for a complete list of all our supporters around the world.

our authors

2007-08-01T03:34:00.000-07:00

below is a list of some of the authors whose work has already been donated: which of your favorites is our library currently missing? Find out how to donate them here

Richard Adams, Leopoldo Alas, Jane Austen, John Barnes, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Fanny Burney, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Samuel Butler, Albert Camus, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Kim Edwards, George Eliot, Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, Henry Fielding, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gustave Flaubert, Anne Frank, Jostein Gaarder, Neil Gaiman, John Galsworthy, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Günter Grass, John Grisham, Dashell Hammett, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Aleksandar Hemon, O. Henry, Hermann Hesse, Homer, Khaled Hosseini, Victor Hugo, Paula Huntley, Henrik Ibsen, Henry James, James Joyce, James Joyce, Ben Katchor, Stephen King, John Knowles, Niccolo Machiavelli, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, W. Somerset Maugham, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Ondaatje, Edgar Allen Poe*, Barry Powell, Sister Helen Prejean, O. E. Rolvaag, J.K. Rowling, William Shakespeare*, John Steinbeck, Johnathan Swift, William Thackery, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Colson Whitehead, Virgina Woolf, Richard Wright...

* indicates complete works in stock

a new easy way to send us books

2007-07-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Join BookMooch's online book barter resource and you'll be able to receive credit for sending us books, or donate more points for us to expand our library with. It's easy and you won't just be helping us reach our September goal: BookMooch is a great way for you to expand your own library too. Once you've signed up, you can find our account at "blackbird books kosovo."

Big thanks to the generous folks at BookMooch for their donation!

it's official

2007-07-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Blackbird Books was officially registered as a non-governmental organization by the Provisional Institutions of Self Government of Kosova on July 19, 2007. Onwards and upwards.

why we need books

2007-06-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

Mitrovicë/a is the fourth largest city in Kosovo. Many people consider this city to be particularly emblematic of the region's challenges because of the river that divides the town: currently the north side is predominantly Serbian, and the south side is predominantly Albanian.

Cultural life in Mitrovicë/a has been dramatically affected by the events of the last decade. A lot of good people are doing a lot of good work on that front, but there remains a substantial disconnect between art and everyday life. In particular, cultural organizations in Mitrovicë/a are principally located in cultural hubs: university and cultural centers. Young people have little experience with literature or art outside of the classroom setting, and those who may be artistically inclined have few local options for intellectual stimulation. In addition, finding great and exciting literature just isn't that easy. Textbooks and manuals? No problem. Borges and Bukowski? Not so much.

U.S. postal rates

2007-06-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

USPS has now made new price adjustments and restructured international shipping in May: "economy" (or boat) is not an option anymore.

The cheapest available rate for mailing books to Kosovo now is first class international. Prices vary. A softcover book weighing about 12 ounces would be $8.65 and from there up to a pound the price rises to $10.10. On the other hand, you can use a flat rate priority box and ship as many books as would fit for $37.00. A flat rate box will hold about 16 paperbacks or 10 softcovers or about 4 hardback editions. Paperbacks will get the most reading material for the money, and this flate rate priority box is a great way to defray shipping costs with a group of your friends.

thanks to Rob for the information

our mission

2007-06-06T08:46:00.001-07:00

Blackbird Books’ mission is to provide classic and adventurous modern literature to the people of Mitrovicë/a in an environment designed to foster dialogue and combat the emigration of artistically-inclined young adults from our community.
• We will emphasize culture as a part of everyday life by integrating literature into a stimulating social environment for young adults.
• We will promote dialogue with a diverse range of literary forms, from classics to modern graphic novels and self-published zines, in English, Albanian and Serbian.
• We will emphasize gender equality and provide literary resources for young women by featuring works that highlight the literary potential of women.
• We will use profits to support cross-organizational artistic collaborations and other cultural endeavors in both north and south Mitrovicë/a.
• We will utilize our extensive non-profit arts organization management experience to establish ourselves as a social and cultural destination in Mitrovicë/a that attracts talented youth and hinders the cultural “brain drain” from our city and region.