Dua Lipa Unveils ‘The Manifesto Library’ at Iconic Porto Bookstore to Challenge Censorship

Dua Lipa opened a collection of 100 banned books inside Livraria Lello. The shop sits in Porto, Portugal, and she calls it The Manifesto Library. These titles have been banned, censored, or challenged at different times across the globe, throughout history. 

Four themes organize the shelves: Power, Control, Voice, and Memory. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale sits among them. So does Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts. Works from Salman Rushdie and Olga Tokarczuk fill out the collection.

Someone pulled each title from circulation. Someone protested it, then someone silenced it in another location. The National Review wrote, "Funnily enough, those 'banned or censored' books are easily purchased today — and not only at the Porto shop."  

Livraria Lello is one of the most popular bookstores in the world. Tourists flock there, and many locals shop its aisles. Dua Lipa transformed this historic shop into a sanctuary for challenged literature. 

The Handmaid's Tale received bans in many countries. Felon tells stories of incarceration and redemption. Rushdie's novels sparked international controversy. Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize, but her works have been contested in her own homeland.

Each theme guides visitors differently. Power examines books that questioned authority. Control features titles censored by governments. Voice showcases suppressed perspectives, and Memory holds works that challenged official histories.

The collection opened on July 27. Anyone visiting Porto can walk through and read these books. Lipa designed this project to keep banned literature accessible. When books disappear from one place, they need a home somewhere else. The Manifesto Library preserves what others tried to erase.