For Banned Books Week, a Library in Sweden Created an Unreadable Edition of 1984

It's a double-bound protest against censorship

Banned or not, this edition of 1984 is positively unreadable.

The Dawit Isaak Library in Malmo, Sweden, and BBDO Nordics created special copies of George Orwell’s dystopian nightmare for Banned Books Week.

The double-bound volumes—sealed shut on both sides—draws attention to the increase of book bans and censorship worldwide. (A few years ago, Rethink and Penguin Random House created an unburnable book of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Even Atwood herself couldn’t scorch the book.)

Twenty copies of this 1984 exist and were given to the likes of Nobel laureate Herta Müller; Jila Mossaed, a member of the Swedish Academy—the institution that selects the Nobel Prize in Literature; and Stephen King, a member of the banned book club.

The video below shows how the book was created:

“We wanted to create a symbol that would be integral to the library’s fight against censorship,” says Karan Nair, copywriter at BBDO Nordics. “We crafted the book to induce anxiety and anger first, followed by action—to speak out and read more.”

The library is circulating one of the copies among the 1,000 libraries and bookstores participating in Banned Books Week Sweden.

“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,” adds Jasmina Dizdarevic Cordero of the Dawit Isaak Library.

CREDITS
Team Dawit Isaak Library
Anna Nystedt, Director of Communications
Saskia Moquist, Communicator
Jens Zingmark, Librarian
Jasmina Dizdarevic Cordero, Managing Director

Team BBDOKaran Nair, Copywriter
Oskar Ferm, Craft Director
Hanna Sandström, PR Specialist
Malin Wikberg, Executive Creative Director
Petter Dahlskog, Client Director
Aicha Aboubacar, Project Lead
Andreas Silverblad, Design Director
Linnea Nordström, PR Lead
Satany Doughouz,Graphic Designer
Emelie Eriksson,Graphic Designer
Linda Engström,Graphic Designer
Natalia Zieba,Junior Graphic Designer
Isabelle de Susini, Photographer

Rikard Rogeland, Cinematographer