Preserving Our Stories in a Digital World: Inside Solange’s Saint Heron Library

Solange’s Saint Heron Digital Archive Library is preserving Black literature and reshaping how we connect to art in the modern age

By: Raven Gillus

We live online; scrolling, liking, saving, consuming. Digital overconsumption feels inescapable. Sometimes it can be that phone, the one that drains us, but other times that same phone can be gateways to stories, archives, and art that reconnects us to our roots. 

Solange understands this duality well. Through her multidisciplinary institution, Saint Heron, Solange is reimagining what digital spaces can offer with the launch of a digital archive library, created to meet art lovers, literature enthusiasts, and “chronic onliners” where they are right now. 

At its core, the Saint Heron Library is an act of preservation. It amplifies the voices of black and brown authors in this carefully crafted collection of rare, out-of-print, and first edition titles, works that might otherwise be lost to time or limited to elite archives. Readers are granted 45 day access to each book shipped with free shipping and return within the U.S, extending a hand to those eager to engage with stories often erased or overlooked.

This library includes literary greats like Octavia Butler, Dewey Crumpler, and Audre Lorde. In a time when school boards are banning Black literature that confront racial truth and Black cultural institutions get calls to remove artifacts from display, this initiative serves as a quiet but powerful form of resistance.

Solange’s approach not only preserves, it transforms. By blending literature, design, and digital accessibility, Saint Heron redefines what media literacy can look like for a new generation. The platform cultivates literacy through creativity, treating reading as both education and aesthetic experience.

As Saint Heron Library states, “Our focus is to propel the advancement of education, knowledge production, creative inspiration and skill development through culturally relevant Black and Brown literary works.” 

Translation? This is about ownership. Archiving our stories on our own terms.

Since its inception, Saint Heron has always been a sanctuary for multidisciplinary art and introduced new audiences to a diverse array of artists. Each new project feels like an extension of Solange’s personal ethos beyond music, building an evolving ecosystem of Black expression that celebrates culture as continuity. 

Access the Saint Heron Library and explore the collection here.