Join us for our quarterly volunteer potluck! Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Gr1h7NUMoEmEG5-Ku8gqki4Uze3GeaInUqw4_u0zc4/edit?usp=drive_link

On May 23, 2026, the Books to Prisoners (BTP) community gathered at the Couth Buzzard in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood for a BTP Showcase and Community Night filled with raffles, a talk from a formerly incarcerated guest speaker, book readings from Dear Books to Prisoners: Letters from the Incarcerated, and appreciation of the art and poetry incarcerated letter writers have sent in to BTP.

On May 9th and 10th, Books to Prisoners (BTP) had the lovely experience of tabling at the Seattle Art Book Fair at Washington Hall. For six hours on both Saturday and Sunday, volunteers staffed a table and represented BTP with bright smiles and enthusiastic energy. The fair was very busy. Three floors of vendors attracted book-loving visitors to peruse and buy books, magazines, and zines full of art. BTP was on the third floor–the Community Floor–with other community-oriente

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

Come join us on May 23rd from 7-9pm for BTP Community Night and a Showcase of our work at the Couth Buzzard! We will have formerly incarcerated guest speakers on the power of literature in prison, a poetry and artwork gallery by incarcerated artists, a reading of our book Dear BTP, book buying deals, a book mark creation station, and a merch raffle!

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

On February 6th, Books to Prisoners volunteers headed to Town Hall Seattle to support the Ear Hustle live show. Watching stories from incarcerated individuals come to life through audio, visuals, and powerful performances reminded us exactly why community events like this matter so much to our work. Ear Hustle debuted in 2017 and was the first podcast ever created and produced from inside a prison. Co-founders Nigel Poor, Earlonne Woods, and Antwan Williams (with Earlonne and

Books to Prisoners volunteers will be attending the Ear Hustle live show on February 6th at 7:30 pm at Town Hall as a community event. We would love to have you join us! Ear Hustle is an award winning podcast produced inside of San Quentin, a notorious California prison, that explores the experience of life in American prisons. They are supplying a discount code for our BTP volunteers. Fill out this form to receive a code before purchasing your ticket here . They will als

"Used Books Not Allowed" scrawled on the wrapping paper of a package of books refused by a prison mailroom. Today is the first day of Prison Banned Books Week 2025, a week examining the catastrophic impact of censorship on information access inside jails, prisons, and detention centers. Head to prisonbannedbooksweek.org for updates and actions this week, and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKS TO PEOPLE IN PRISONS CHAPTER by donating books, gifting postage money, volunteering, and sprea

Panel: Banned Books: What’s the Story? Oct 19, Sunday, 2-4, pm Seattle Central Library, (Room: Level 4, Rm 1) 1000 4th Avenue, Seattle...

“Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.” That's the theme the American Library Association and the Banned Books Coalition have chosen for Banned Books Week 2025. Their focus is on censorship in public places like schools or libraries. But many more books are censored in the relative privacy of a prison mailroom. Censorship in schools and libraries centers on the words and pictures in the books. Books are often censored for content in prisons as well, but also for many u

If you want to experience a win-win-win situation this spring, consider buying a book for someone in prison during BTP’s Independent Bookstore Day promotion, April 21-May 5. BTP is partnering with a handful of local independent bookstores and a family foundation to bring hundreds of much-needed new books to our readers. How it works: Our bookstore partners will have a BTP-specific table at their physical store, or an online wishlist. If you visit one of our bookstore partners

The 2023 Seattle Social Justice Film Festival featured this program of short documentaries before a live audience when it opened on...

In 1982, Banned Books Week was launched during the first week of October to protest the sharp rise in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. This year, the last week of the month has been designated Prison Banned Books Week (PBBW), to shine a light on the disproportionate role prisons play in book censorship. In observation of PBBW, we are partnering with these four local bookstores to get some of our most highly requested titles. If you purc

Join Books to Prisoners and Left Bank Books as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary together with a potluck picnic in Volunteer Park. The picnic will start at 1 pm, Sunday, July 30. We’ll meet in the NE corner near the small cemetery and the wading pool. If you enter the park through the main entrance, the wading pool will be the first thing on your right.

Shop local in Seattle and support Books to Prisoners starting tomorrow! Phinney Books, 7405 Greenwood Ave N Left Bank Books, 92 Pike St Queen Anne Book Company, 1811 Queen Anne Ave N. Each of these three stores will have a table devoted to frequently-requested titles. Whatever you spend on books from those tables during Independent Bookstore Days will be matched by a grant that will go to buy more books for incarcerated readers. You can shop online from Queen Anne Book Compa

Claire Dederer is a best-selling author. She’s also a volunteer at BtP. Town Hall Seattle and the Elliott Bay Book Company are sponsoring...

Banned Books Week is here! Banned Books Week (September 18th-24th) is an annual awareness campaign of the American Library Association. As we know, Banned Books Week is every week for people incarcerated in prisons, jails, and detention centers across the country. Every day, people inside face ridiculous and repressive restrictions to what literature they can access. We know that the most repressive censorship and book banning in this country happens behind bars. That’s why