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1984 is Unreadable – New Special Edition of George Orwell’s Classic is Impossible to Read
In connection with this year’s Banned Books Week, with the theme “Censorship is so 1984”, a special edition of George Orwell’s classic 1984 is being released. The book is unreadable, bound on both sides, as a symbol of the growing censorship of books around the globe.
Only 20 copies of this exclusive edition have been produced worldwide. It marks the beginning of a larger initiative called The Bound Books Project. The project uses the physical act of double-binding to symbolize what it feels like when freedom of expression is silenced and when literature is banned.
“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 illustrate the absurdity and the danger of censorship. The right to read what you want is not just about books – it is about freedom itself.” says Jasmina Dizdarevic Cordero, Managing Director at the Dawit Isaak Library in Malmö, Sweden
The book is presented by the Dawit Isaak Library in Malmö, Sweden, named after the world’s longest-detained journalist. Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist, who has been imprisoned without trial in Eritrea since 2001.
Censorship on the Rise
Book bans and censorship are spreading at an alarming pace. Authors are silenced when their words challenge those in power, and books that address race, sexuality, or critical perspectives are being removed from schools and libraries. Similar patterns are emerging across the world. Limiting the right of adults and children to read freely is also censorship – even when it is not imposed by law.
This makes the message of 1984 more urgent than ever: a free society requires free access to literature.
Banned Books Week 2025
The project is launched in connection with Banned Books Week, the international campaign that highlights the value of free and open access to information and literature. This year’s theme, “Censorship is so 1984”, makes the Orwellian special edition both timely and symbolic.
The Dawit Isaak Library – a Library for Free Speech
The Dawit Isaak Library is the world’s first library entirely dedicated to freedom of speech. On its shelves and in its digital database are books and information about works that have been banned, burned, or censored, as well as works by writers who have been silenced, threatened, imprisoned, or forced into exile for their words.
Visit malmo.se/dawitisaakbiblioteket to explore the collection and to learn more about the Bound Books Project.
This special edition has been made possible by Swedish publisher Bakhåll
Contact
For further information, please contact Jasmina Dizdarevic Cordero, Managing Director at the Dawit Isaak Library
jasmina.cordero@malmo.se
+46 (0)701-466591
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Read more about the Banned Books Week
The Banned Books Week Coalition is an international alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness about censorship attempts and to encourage the defense of the freedom to read. The Coalition seeks to engage various communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy, and the creation of programming about the problem of book censorship.
Read more about the Dawit Isaak Library
At the Dawit Isaak Library, literature is preserved that has, at some point and in some place, been forbidden. Volumes that have been burned, censored, or otherwise silenced. The collection includes works by authors who have been threatened, imprisoned, or forced into exile as a consequence of their words. The library encompasses both contemporary literature, such as works by writers in refuge, and older texts of historical significance, presented both in their original languages and in translation into Swedish or English.
