Margaret Atwood and Penguin Random House fight censorship with The Unburnable Book.

Blog / May 25, 2022

Across the United States, books are being banned and burned at an alarming rate. In response to this wave of censorship, we worked with Penguin Random House to create an unburnable edition of The Handmaid’s Tale made entirely from fireproof materials. 

Then, we got Margaret Atwood to test it with a flamethrower.

The Unburnable Book launched at the 2022 PEN America Literary Gala and the one-of-a-kind copy was auctioned off at Sotheby’s New York for $130,000 with all proceeds going to support PEN America.

The campaign ignited a global conversation about censorship and was covered by major news outlets around the world – garnering more than 3.5 billion impressions and over $33 million in earned media.