Books aren’t something we usually cover, but Penguin Random House and Margaret Atwood have done something that we simply have to share.
The author and the publisher have partnered up to create The Unburnable Book, a fireproof copy of Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
The book which has become a widely-lauded television series that you can watch in full on Showmax right now, has been the target of bans. By making it unburnable, Penguin Random House and Atwood hope to make a statement about censorship.
To make the book unburnable, the following is present:
- “Black cinefoil dust jacket
- White heat shield foil pages
- Section sewn with Nickel wire
- Phenolic hard cover
- Stainless steel head and tail bands
- Kapton high temperature adhesive.”
To showcase whether this works, Atwood took a flamethrower to her own book.
“I never thought I’d be trying to burn one of my own books… and failing,” Atwood said in a statement.
“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,” the author added.
The book was produced by Rethink and fabricated by The Gas Company. The Unburnable Book was manufactured by Jeremy Martin and the materials and processes used were researched and tested by Doug Laxdal.
Given the costs that went into making this singular copy of The Handmaid’s Tale, this won’t become a widespread release, but will rather be auctioned off.
The auction is being hosted by Sotheby’s in New York on 7th June and the current bid sits at a cool $70 000(~R1.1 million). We will of course let you know how much The Unburnable Book sells for come 7th June.
Proceeds from the auction will be donated to PEN America to help support its efforts to champion free expression.
For those who are lost as to why Atwood’s book has been the target of bans, we highly recommend giving the series a watch. All four seasons are available on Showmax. We should warn you that the show can be a harrowing watch at times but it’s an incredibly poignant story that still feels frighteningly relevant in 2022.
