The Humans of Minneapolis book is a curated collection of portraits and stories that seek to increase empathy and connect a community
My Story
My name is Stephanie Glaros and I am a teaching artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I started taking photos of strangers I met on the street back in 2010 as a way to overcome my own fear and break through social barriers that isolate us from one another. In 2013, I relaunched the project as Humans of Minneapolis, a blog inspired by Humans of New York.
Over time, Humans of Minneapolis has become more than just a social media project. It’s a community of over 58,000 people who care about other people. It’s a project that bridges social divides and invites people to learn from people who may be quite different from them. It’s a safe space where regular folks can tell their own stories and know the Humans of Minneapoliscommunity will embrace them with love and a heartfelt desire to help. It creates impactful, positive reverberations throughout our city. Most of all, it’s about making connections and encouraging empathy. My heart and soul are in every post.
Click here for Star-Tribune‘s feature article and behind-the-scenes video.
The Book
The Humans of Minneapolis book will be a curated collection of the best stories and over 200 photographs from the blog. In it, we hear personal accounts of joy, loss, transformation, and community. It will be a physical manifestation of my passion project from the past six years. The book will be my vision from front to back and my intention is to create something worthy of gift-giving. It will be a high-quality hardcover book printed in Minnesota.
I believe the Humans of Minneapolis book will allow readers to experience these stories in a different way than viewing the images and interviews online. There’s something about holding a physical object in your hand that encourages deeper engagement. The book will also feature behind-the-scenes commentary from myself, as well as amazing follow-ups from some of my most popular subjects. There are also never-before-seen photos and stories that I discovered digging through my archives.
It’s my dream to create something tangible that expresses how much I care about the people of this community.
The Campaign
By pre-ordering the book via this Kickstarter campaign, you are literally making this project happen. Book printing is expensive, especially for high-quality art books, so there is no way I could ever afford to pay for it myself. Pre-orders will also help pay for the design, editing, and proofreading of the book. As soon as I receive it, I will ship it to everyone who pre-ordered as part of this campaign, which means you will get it first! Remaining copies will be available for sale on my website and in select local independent bookstores. The more pre-orders I receive, the more books I can afford to print, the more we can share how much we love this city!
Big dreams always come with risks, otherwise they wouldn’t be worth doing. The main risk would be if people didn’t buy the remaining copies of the book, leaving me with unwanted inventory. There are always production issues that can come up during the printing process, too. But because of my background in publication creation, I have extensive experience in what it takes to create a book and I know any issues would be quickly resolved. The wise folks at Wise Ink Creative Publishing are guiding me through the process, so I am extremely confident that under their tutelage, this book project will be a total success.