The Book Censor’s Library

National Book Award finalist Bothayna Al-Essa’s 2021 novel, The Book Censor's Library, newly translated from the original Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain, is a Kafkaesque satire set in a near future where most books have been banned. Yet, despite strict warnings, the titular book censor finds himself collecting, instead of seizing, novels that allude to the “forbidden trinity of God, government, and sex.” His newfound love for reading leads him down a rabbit hole where he comes upon the “Cancers,” a ragtag group of librarians, pirate booksellers, and book lovers fighting back against government oppression. They look to him to be their man on the inside. The Book Censor’s Library is a rallying cry for bibliophiles everywhere.

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