Dua Lipa opens a Manifesto Library of banned, censored books in Portugal

Global pop sensation Dua Lipa refuses to sit back and relax as a newly-wed and has opened a library of banned and censored books in Portugal weeks after taking her vows.

Called the Manifesto Library, the physical iteration of her book club Service95 – which she has been running since 2021 – has opened at the historic Livraria Lello bookshop in Porto, Portugal on June 27.

While this initiative is part of a multi-day celebration of the Livraria Lello’s 120th anniversary, the library will remain at the venue as a permanent feature.

In a press release, Lipa was quoted as saying, “When I founded the Service95 Book Club, my ambition was for it to become a home for writers and readers, wherever they are and whatever their circumstances. Reading the world brings us closer – but sadly, not everyone is in favour of that.”

She called the new library a “dream collaboration” and said that the carefully curated 100 books in its collection were works “that ask questions or have been questioned”. She noted in the statement that many of the authors of these texts had “paid for their words with their life”.

The collection includes works such as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Reginald Dwayne Betts’ Felon. Other represented authors include Salman Rushdie and Olga Tokarczuk.

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