Freebird's September Book Drive for Books Through Bars

Purchase copies of three works for $30 (35% off retail) to be sent to incarcerated readers nationwide: a Hugo Award-winning novel by Nnedi Okorafor (who has also authored several Black Panther comics), a reinvention of the classic horror tale by Victor LaValle (acclaimed for subverting Lovecraft's racism), and Jeff Chang's standard-bearing study of hip-hop music and culture.

Following August's drive for illustrated works (March: Book One, They Called Us Enemy, and How to Draw Faces), Freebird is offering again three books for $30: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, and Can't Stop, Won't Stop by Jeff Chang.  Speculative fiction--especially from non-traditional perspectives--are in high demand, as are books on pop culture. 

Binti is the first in a trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor, focusing on the interstellar experiences of a gifted young woman sent far from her African homeland to study at an acclaimed university outside the galaxy. Okorafor won Hugo and Nebula awards for this ambitious Africanfuturist debut; so it's no surprise that she has been called upon by Marvel to write several comics in the Black Panther series. The Ballad of Black Tom takes its initial cues from the uncanny stylings of H.P. Lovecraft, but the comparisons end there. Like the current HBO series Lovecraft Country, Victor LaValle twists the genre into a dramatic backdrop exploring themes of racism and inequality. And Can't Stop, Won't Stop is Jeff Chang's unmatched study of hip-hop music and culture. As much a social history as an important chronicle of the times which gave birth to the movement, it was named one of Slate's best nonfiction books of the last quarter century.  

Why it is important to donate to NYC Books Through Bars
While the NYC Books Through Bars program operating out of Freebird's basement is currently limiting in-person volunteering and drop offs due to COVID-19, book requests continue to pour in from prisons around the country: nearly 300 per week. In response to the challenges of accepting those donations during the pandemic, we have started a monthly program in which specific, in-demand titles can be purchased through Freebird at a discount. These books will be sent to incarcerated readers across the country.

To learn more about the important work NYC Books Through Bars does, go here.