Too many banned books, for too many wrong reasons. Some bans are politically motivated, some prejudice-perpetuating, some are overzealous censoring of innuendo that isn’t there. All limit free speech.
For this year’s Banned Books Week, the Dawit Isaak Library in Sweden, the world’s first library dedicated to freedom of speech, has partnered with BBDO Nordics to launch something never seen before – a double-bound, unreadable edition of George Orwell’s 1984.
Bound shut on both sides, the book is a symbolic protest against the growing global wave of censorship and book bans. Although it holds all the chapters in print, it can’t be opened. It can’t be read. But it’s impossible to ignore.
While this copy is sealed by design, thousands of books are becoming unreadable through bans, removals, and silencing.
“When a book is banned, it becomes a closed world. By sealing one of the most influential works of literature ever written, we want to make censorship impossible to ignore,” stated Jasmina Dizdarevic Cordero, managing director, the Dawit Isaak Library.
The exclusive edition of 1984 has been received by authors including Stephen King, Nobel laureate Herta Müller, and Jila Mossaed, a member of the Swedish Academy – the institution responsible for selecting the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The library has also set aside a copy to be circulated among the 1,000+ libraries and bookstores participating in Banned Books Week Sweden, inviting them to start their own conversations about censorship and the freedom to read.
The project marks the beginning of The Bound Books Project, using design as a protest tool, transforming a literary icon into a striking piece of communication that sparks conversation around the world.
Credits:
Client: Dawit Isaak Library
Director of Communications: Anna Nystedt
Communicator: Saskia Moquist
Librarian: Jens Zingmark
Managing Director: Jasmina Dizdarevic Cordero
Creative Agency: BBDO Nordics
Copywriter: Karan Nair
Craft Director: Oskar Ferm
PR Specialist: Hanna Sandström
Executive Creative Director: Malin Wikberg
Client Director: Petter Dahlskog
Project Lead: Aicha Aboubacar
Design Director: Andreas Silverblad
PR Lead: Linnea Nordström
Graphic Designers: Satany Doughouz, Emelie Eriksson & Linda Engström
Junior Graphic Designer: Natalia Zieba
Photographer: Isabelle de Susini
Cinematographer: Rikard Rogeland
