The Phinney Neighborhood Association and Phinney Books invite you to the 17th annual Holiday Bookfest, Saturday, November 21, 2:00-4:00 pm, on the third floor of the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N. Over two dozen local authors will be reading from and signing copies of their latest books. Check the website of Phinney Books (https://www.phinneybooks.com/holiday-bookfest-2026) for the most up-to-date list of attendees. We'll be there, tabling and accepting n

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!

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

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.

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