To raise awareness about the proliferating book banning and educational gag orders in some U.S. schools, Margaret Atwood and Penguin Random House have partnered to create The Unburnable Book, a fireproof edition of Atwood's prescient--and often banned--novel The Handmaid's Tale, featuring imagery by designer Noma Bar. In the launch video, Atwood can be seen "testing" a prototype with a flamethrower.
The one-of-a-kind edition was created using fireproof materials and will be presented at auction by Sotheby's New York, with proceeds going to PEN America to support the organization's work to counter censorship. The opening date for the Sotheby's exhibition is June 3, and it will close with the auction on June 7.
This single-copy special edition of The Handmaid's Tale was produced by creative agency Rethink and fabricated in Toronto by the graphic arts specialty and bookbinding atelier the Gas Company Inc. The Unburnable Book was manufactured by print-and-bindery master craftsman Jeremy Martin. Fireproof materials and processes were researched and tested by Doug Laxdal.
PRH CEO Markus Dohle said: "We are at an urgent moment in our history, with ideas and truth--the foundations of our democracy--under attack. Few writers have been as instrumental in the fight for free expression as Margaret Atwood. To see her classic novel about the dangers of oppression reborn in this innovative, unburnable edition is a timely reminder of what's at stake in the battle against censorship, and Penguin Random House is incredibly proud to support Sotheby's auction of this one-of-a-kind book to help fund PEN's crucial work against these forces."
Atwood commented: "I never thought I'd be trying to burn one of my own books... and failing. The Handmaid's Tale has been banned many times--sometimes by whole countries, such as Portugal and Spain in the days of Salazar and the Francoists, sometimes by school boards, sometimes by libraries. Let's hope we don't reach the stage of wholesale book burnings, as in Fahrenheit 451. But if we do, let's hope some books will prove unburnable--that they will travel underground, as prohibited books did in the Soviet Union."
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel added: "In the face of a determined effort to censor and silence, this unburnable book is an emblem of our collective resolve to protect books, stories and ideas from those who fear and revile them. We are thankful to be able to deploy the proceeds of this auction to fortify this unprecedented fight for books."