Visit 3rd place books November 9-15 to participate in a matching campaign to support Books to Prisoners! Every purchase from our wish list will be matched by a generous family foundation! Check out the wish list here!

Check out our donation requests for November! Please remember that we can only accept paperbacks. Nonfiction: Farming and homesteading (new or used) Pagan, Wicca, or astrology materials (new or used) Fiction: Fiction in Spanish (new or used) Urban Fiction (new or used)

For two and a half centuries America has been a champion of freedom of speech. America also has a long history of literary restrictions. No more so than in the prison system. BTP believes in the right of people to read what they want to read. Our independent bookstore partners are part of an informal network dedicated to upholding free thought and free speech. Support incarcerated people and independent bookstores (and BTP) with a purchase for prisoners during Banned Books We

Its back to school season! As everyone gets ready to head back to school its important to remember the power of education and the ways in which it is withheld from certain groups of people. Incarcerated people have some of the lowest education and literacy rates in the country and frequently lack any kind of meaningful educational programming inside. This month please consider donating books so that we can provide incarcerated people with the opportunity to educate themselves

This month we are looking for donations of: Horror books (hardbacks ok) Fantasy (paperbacks only) Coloring books Word-searches Please make sure that any donations are stain free!

GiveBig is the biggest organized statewide fundraiser for nonprofits. It’s been around since 2011 when it was established by the Seattle Foundation, and was taken over by 501 Commons in 2019. Books to Prisoners (BTP) has been a recipient of GiveBig funds since 2013. The concept – a month of concerted coordinated collective fundraising – is still valid. GiveBig happened in May this year. Over the event period, 33 donors gave more than $4,900 to BTP through the GiveBig website.

This month we are looking for donations of: Fashion and pop culture magazines (VOGUE, ELLE, InStyle, ESQUIRE, PEOPLE, etc.) Horror (used or new paperbacks) Legal Self Help materials (used or new paperbacks)

This month we are looking for donations of Manga! Manga continues to be one of our most frequently requested categories, it flies off the shelves! Please consider donating new or used paperback manga.

This month we are looking for donations of: Paperback History (World, U.S, modern) Paperback Science We can only accept paperback books in good condition! Please ensure that you check any donations for staining as we cannot mail out anything with stains.

Today is GiveBIG Day 2026 and Books to Prisoners (BTP) is facing an unprecedented time. We need your support more than ever as we work to answer more than 1,000 letters from prisoners every month. The United States continues to lock up millions of citizens without providing adequate support for prison education or prison libraries. Prison literacy programs are frequently one of the only ways incarcerated people are able to own books and use these vital tools to soothe themsel

Get ready for GiveBIG Day 2026! GiveBIG is a statewide fundraising campaign hosted by Washington Gives to raise money for nonprofit organizations.This year, GiveBig kicks off on April 28, 2026, and ends with a 24-hour giving event on May 5! We hope you will take this opportunity to donate to Books to Prisoners (BTP)! A donation to BTP allows us to continue to offer essential books and other printed resources to incarcerated people across the United States. The work we do is

Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) is a time for us to celebrate the local businesses that keep the art of storytelling alive. These precious spaces promote literacy, champion new and marginalized voices, build communities, showcase local writers, and help sustain a diverse literacy ecosystem. In honor of IBD, Books to Prisoners (BTP) is partnering with local bookstores to expand access to books for incarcerated readers. From April 25th to May 2nd, when you visit a participating

Have you ever found yourself exploring a new neighborhood, spotting a bookstore you’ve never visited. You walk in, “just to browse,” and before you know it, you’re walking out with a stack of new books from fresh authors thanks to the convincing recommendations and table showcases from the bookstore’s employees. April 25 is Independent Bookstore Day and a time to celebrate and support those small businesses that feed your healthy book-reading infatuation. We invite you on I

Our library runs on donations! This month we are particularly looking for magazines! Please consider bringing in any of the following: Fashion magazines Celebrity and pop culture magazines Sports magazines Car/truck magazines

We need more books! Please consider donating your used or new books to BTP! Current categories we are low on: Dictionaries (paperback) Fantasy (paperback or hardback) Horror (paperback or hardback) Thrillers (paperback or hardback) Native American history (paperback) Pagan/Occult (paperback or hardback) Meditation (paperback or hardback) Cars (paperback or hardback) Black fiction (paperback or hardback)

We need more books! Please consider donating your used or new books to Books to Prisoners! We will make sure they find a lovely new home:) Categories we are currently low on: Paperback dictionaries Fantasy (paperback or hardback) Horror (paperback or hardback) Thrillers (paperback or hardback) Sci-fi (paperback or hardback) Spanish-English dictionaries (paperback) How to draw (paperback) Composition books Native American literature (paperback)

Happy New Year! As we enter 2026 please consider donating books! Donations are the lifeline of Books to Prisoners and enable us to continue our work. We are specifically looking for the following genres and titles. We accept new and used books and have a strong preference for paperbacks, although we will accept hardbacks as well. Fiction: Fantasy Horror Non Fiction: Beyond Bars Used Copies Penguin Random House Prisoner’s Self-Help Litigation Manual Amazon A few used copies

Fund named for Bellingham literacy activist, Nancy Duncan Huss Books to Prisoners, which has been sending free books to prisoners since 1973, was approached this year by a donor whose stated interest was serving as many people as possible. The donor was thinking big, bigger than BTP alone could manage at short notice. What BTP COULD do was recruit others to this worthy cause. "BtP organizers recognize that, over the short term, leveraging other groups' capacities is an effect

Books we're out of: Coloring books for adults (no nudity) Paperback books about automotive repair and maintenance Paperback self help Figure Drawing for Kids, or other paperback drawing guides without nudity Paperback fantasy Paperback dictionaries Paperback Jewish nonfiction and fiction You may notice a trend here. The number of prisons and jails that don't allow people to have hardcover books grows by the month. Paperbacks can go so many places that hardcovers can't. Book

In 2025, we've spent almost $6500 a month to ship 35,000 pounds of books to 10,823 readers behind bars. That's a lot of stories told, skills learned, and wisdom gained. This GivingTuesday, December 2nd, we're asking you for a total donation of $10,000. That's enough to cover our postage through mid-January. You'll be sharing your love of reading with strangers. Some of them will become avid readers themselves. What better gift could you give for the holidays?