Mysterious Benefactors Fund Giveaway of Dystopian Fiction

Urging readers to ‘fight back’

It was just a couple of weeks ago we reported that Penguin are ordering a reprint of the dystopian novel 1984, with books like The Handmaid’s Tale also hitting the bestsellers’ list, years after their original release. Now a mysterious benefactor in San Francisco has funded a mass giveaway of books urged to inspire the ‘fight back’ against the Trump era, enlisted George Orwell, Margaret Atwood and Erik Larson to assist the cause.

Today the San Francisco Chronicle reports that a mysterious benefactor purchased 50 copies of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984 offering them free at Booksmith in Haigh-Ashbury. The free books were accompanied by a sign that read “Read Up! Fight Back! A Mystery benefactor has bought these copies of 1984 for you if you need one.”.

Pretty soon another person was inspired to follow suit, buying up copies of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and Erik Larson’s In The Garden of Beasts to be given away, creating a bumper dystopian giveaway.

The act was reported by the shop owner Christin Evans to be a “fruitful and constructive form of resistance” and said that others have also come forward and expressed interest at future giveaways. Evans already hit the news for refusing to stock copies of Milo Yianopoulos’s book at Booksmith upon a customer’s request, but he says that acts such as this “play a role in the current political climate”, especially when “bookstores believe greatly in the power of the written word to educate, inspire and persuade.”.

1984 US
1984 UK

The Handmaid’s Tale US
The Handmaid’s Tale UK

In the Garden of Beasts US
In the Garden of Beasts UK