Shelfies in the Wild: Applecart Arts

Applecart Arts is a community arts centre in East London.

It is in a beautiful old building: a 19th century library that had been abandoned to pigeons. Since Applecart restored it, the Passmore Edwards Building has become home to studios, a cafe, an exhibition space, and even a theatre. At any given time, you can find a combination of off-duty emergency workers, small children and their parents, laptop-based creatives, care workers, and even our local MP.

One wall is given over to books, all of which have seen a great deal of use. They’re shelved (such as they are) in crates. There are romances and mysteries; local authors and classics; battered Dragonlance paperbacks and much-loved Bernard Cornwell hardcovers.

My favourite shelf is this particular crate of children’s books. All them are grubby and sticky, and some are missing pages or covers. The chaos may be upsetting to a bibliophile, but it shows exactly how important and beloved these books are to Applecart’s patrons.

One book we have to read every time is My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. You can see a hint of green and blue from the cover, as it has been stuffed horizontally on to the top of the shelf. Written by Eve Sutton, it is an adorable rhyme-y book with a repeated chorus that is ridiculously fun to shout out loud. (It is illustrated by Lynley Dodd, who is something of a household hero. Dodd’s Hairy McClary are a breath of fresh air in the tweedy-twiddly-poom-POOM world of children’s literature.) Like all great literature, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes is based on the truth of the human (or feline) condition.

Some other contemporary classics are visible, including the indominable We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and The Day The Crayons Quit. Despite - or perhaps because - having their own copies at home, you can always see children making a beeline for these two. A familar book on someone else’s shelf makes a strange space less so. That’s especially true with children; you can watch them instantly settle in to a new place as soon as they spot a book they love.

Applecart Arts is currently fundraising in order to keep their doors open. If you can, please help keep this important community institution afloat.

Applecart Arts can be found in the Passmore Edwards Building in Plashet Grove, East Ham. This Shelfie was taken in the wild by Jared Shurin.

Shelfies is edited by Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin. If you are interested in sharing a shelfie, please let us know.