Aesop celebrates its 3rd annual Queer Library initiative, which honours authors in the LGBTQIA2S+ community while celebrating queer stories and perspectives.

For a limited time, products on the shelves of several Aesop locations across North America will be replaced by a carefully curated selection of books that highlight marginalized voices. This year’s initiative will spotlight banned books and works that have been challenged in various ways across North America. The books selected by the Aesop team are sourced from independent queer-owned bookstores like Glad Day Books in Toronto and Bookwoman in Austin, as well as donations from Penguin Books. Classic queer texts by James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, along with contemporary titles by writers such as George M. Johnson and Maia Kobabe, are included in the collection.

“The Aesop Foundation is proud to support the ACLU to end classroom censorship, challenge book bans and promote access to public libraries. The grant reflects our shared commitment to supporting literacy and education and we stand in solidarity with the ACLU’s Right to Learn campaign, and other activities that defend freedom of expression to advance equity,” explains Catherine O’Dea, Chair of the Aesop Foundation.

Aesop’s Queer Library initiative launches at Aesop Silver Lake in Los Angeles, Aesop Williamsburg in New York, and Aesop Yorkville in Toronto from June 20th to June 25th. Each visitor is invited to select a free book from the shelves to take home, while supplies last.