Trans Library Helsinki

Application summary

Trans Library Helsinki is a library and community space founded in 2023 by artists Shia Rowan Conlon and Iona Carmine Roisin. In just over a year, it has grown from an idea into a space for queer life in Helsinki, offering free access to books, zines, a print station, workshops, clubs, and film screenings. To our knowledge, it’s the first space of its kind in the Nordics. Our priority is to ensure the library’s longevity and its role as a welcoming place for the community. Multi-year support will allow us to increase weekly open days from two to four, making the library more consistent. It will allow us to continue offering free resources, host workshops, summer camps, and support community-led initiatives such as book clubs, craft clubs, and co-writing mornings. These activities are modest in scale but impactful, offering routine and connection to people who may face isolation. Film screenings will become a core strand of our programming, building on our sold-out past events. Our plan includes an annual Trans Film Festival in collaboration with international and local partners, as well as smaller, intimate screenings. In Finland, there are almost no non-commercial trans-focused spaces. The political climate and healthcare system often fail or actively harm trans people. Trans Library Helsinki hopes to offer an alternative: a free, non-commercial place where we can gather, share, and create culture on our own terms. From film screenings and book clubs, to eating and crafting, communities are built by cultural events as well as the everyday, and space for both is necessary in the face of systems that would rather silence us.