The Unburnable Book

About the Work According to a recent PEN America report, book banning in U.S. schools and libraries has reached unprecedented levels, with some elected officials even suggesting burning books deemed “inappropriate.” As one of the world’s largest publishing houses and the publisher of one of the most banned books of all time — Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale — Penguin Random House needed to make a strong statement. So Penguin created The Unburnable Book: a one-of-a-kind edition of The Handmaid’s Tale made entirely from fireproof materials and designed to be impossible to burn. The single, special edition of The Handmaid’s Tale was intentionally designed to look and feel exactly like the original, but to be fireproof up to 2600 degrees fahrenheit. It was printed on Cinefoil pages using heat-resistant inks, bound with nickel copper wire, and hand sewn with stainless steel. All materials were thoroughly tested at a range of temperatures and using a variety of flame sources to ensure the book would not burn. Then, it was tested by 82-year old author Margaret Atwood – with a flamethrower – in a video that was shared everywhere from major news outlets like The Washington Post to Late Night with Seth Meyers. The book itself launched at the PEN America Gala in Manhattan and was auctioned off at Sotheby’s NY, selling for a whopping $130,000 with all proceeds going to support PEN America, an organization that fights censorship and promotes freedom of literary expression. Most importantly, the campaign ignited a global conversation about censorship and was covered around the world – garnering more than 12 billion impressions and over $35 million in earned media.