Treasure trove: Book lovers are leaving behind novels for perfect strangers

My friend found one of your books today, the Magnus Chase you placed at Social,” reads a message sent to a group that anonymously leaves novels in public places. “It absolutely made her day. Finding a book you want to read like that is more than just luck; it’s fairy magic,” it adds. 

Over the past few months, unsuspecting people have found books in cafés, colleges and metro stations. Accompanying these books is a note, the gist of which is: take the book, read it, then leave it for someone else to find. Tucked away on these notes are also Facebook and Instagram addresses, allowing the book finder to connect with their anonymous benefactor’s group. 

One of these groups is “The Book Fairies of India”, which is led by Keshav Chhabra, a master’s student at Delhi University. The other is Shruti Sharma’s “Books On the Delhi Metro”. These do-gooders don’t get anything in return, save for the satisfaction of sharing a story they’ve liked.

While The Book Fairies of India hide books around the city, members of “Books On the Delhi Metro place books in the city’s transport system alone,” says Sharma, a Delhi-based content writer. “But in both movements, you hope the person who finds the book reads it and then puts it back into circulation,” she adds. 

Both these groups are chapters of global movements, like the London-based “The Book Fairies”, of which British actor Emma Watson is the face, and New York’s “Books on the Move-Global”. 

“There are currently over 50 active book fairies in India; it’s a growing community. After metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, we are moving to smaller cities,” says Chhabra, whose group recently had its first book drops in Kochi and Vadodara. “People are reaching out to us, hoping to find a book some day and, even better, becoming book fairies themselves,” he adds. 

The Book Fairies have put out over 1,000 books across India since they started in March. (While anyone can be a book fairy, the “official” ones handle the group’s social media presence.) 

“One of my biggest concerns was if I could actually give away my books,” says Kadambari Mehta, the official book fairy for Mumbai. “But it’s so satisfying when you hear from people who’ve found the books,” says Mehta, a social media marketeer who’s dropped off 200 books since April. 

In a post on Instagram, for instance, a media student describes how he stumbled upon Finding Gobi during the recent literature festival in Mumbai. This student was so taken by the idea of book fairies that not only did he make them the subject for his college assignment, he also spent a whole day putting out books and waiting in the shadows for people to pick them up.  

Much like Chhabra and Mehta, Sharma too began by taking books from her own bookshelf, starting with The Namesake and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. 

We love to share the joy of reading and nothing excites us more than new avenues through which we can reach readers,” says Hemali Sodhi, senior vice-president, marketing, Penguin Random House India, one of the publishers who’ve now partnered with these book fairies. Others include Vani Prakashan, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Niyogi Books, Speaking Tiger and Amaryllis. 

“We are delighted to partner with the wonderfully innovative book fairies who have found such a creative way for books to find new homes and new readers,” adds Sodhi. 

With these publishers on board, book fairies now have access to books that are new on the market, as well as all-time favourites, like Ruskin Bond.

Time to look up from your cell phones and embark on a treasure hunt.