Aesop, the brand renowned for its immediately recognizable skincare scents, is bringing back its immensely successful Queer Library back again this year to celebrate Pride and stand in solidarity with local libraries. The Aesop Queer Library will open in New York City, Los Angeles and Toronto from June 27 through June 30.
And while it is called a library, you won’t actually have to return these books — the Aesop Queer Library allows all visitors to take a complimentary book home with them free of charge. Penguin Random House has made a donation of books by queer authors like Ocean Vuong, Britney Griner and James Baldwin, amongst others. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) collaborated with Aesop to curate the titles available at the Queer Library.
Aesop’s commitment to bringing the Queer Library back again this year is cemented in the brand’s belief that libraries should be a space where visitors can engage with queer stories. As funding for public libraries continues to dip in many parts of North America — and as lawmakers in parts of the United States continue to ban books related to LGBTQ subjects — Aesop wants to make reading queer stories just a bit more accessible. Last year, the number of books targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92%, the majority of those being written by or about the LGBTQ community, Black people, Indigenous people and people of color.
In New York City, the full library will be open from June 27 through June 30 at Aesop’s Gansevoort Street location, with mobile editions at Aesop NoMad, Aesop Nolita, Aesop Bleecker Street and Aesop Williamsburg on various days. In Los Angeles, mobile libraries will be open at Aesop Silver Lake, Aesop Larchmont, and Aesop Abbot Kinney, while supplies last.
You can donate to the ACLU, which works tirelessly to support LGBTQ rights and has a variety of programs targeting banned books and libraries, here.
This article is a sponsored collaboration between Aesop and PAPER.
Photos courtesy of Aesop
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