Atwood to auction burn-proof book
Margaret Atwood has imagined apocalyptic disaster, dystopian government and an author faking her own death. But she had spared herself the nightmare of trying to burn one of her own books.
With a flame-thrower, no less. On Monday night, Atwood and Penguin Random House announced that a one-off, unburnable edition of “The Handmaid’s Tale” would be auctioned through Sotheby’s New York, with a brief video that shows Atwood attempting in vain to incinerate her novel. Proceeds will be donated to PEN America, which advocates for free expression.
It’s a joint project among PEN, Atwood, Penguin Ran- dom House, Toronto’s Rethink creative agency and the Gas Company Inc., a graphic arts and bookbinding specialty stu- dio.
Rethink’s Robbie Percy and Caroline Friesen came up with the idea after hearing about a Texas legislator who listed hundreds of works for po- tential banning from school li- braries.
The Gas Company’s Doug Laxdal said that instead of pap- er, he and his colleagues used Cinefoil, a specially treated alu- minum product.
Atwood said she was immedi- ately interested in the special edition. She was a teenager in the 1950s, when Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” was pub- lished, in which books are re- duced to ashes.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” has never been burned, as far as At- wood knows, but has often been subjected to bans or attempted bans.