In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Philly’s beloved Little Free(dom) Library is hitting the road—thanks to Visit Philadelphia—making one of its first out-of-state stops right here in Washington, D.C. The library will hand out 1,000 banned books by Hispanic and Latino authors at Fiesta DC, a massive festival showcasing Hispanic and Latino culture, on September 28th and 29th.
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Visit Philadelphia has been on a mission to make stories from underrepresented voices as accessible as possible. The Little Free(dom) Library initiative has already handed out more than 7,000 banned books across Philly by placing mini libraries at all the city’s hot spots, and now the group is marking Hispanic Heritage Month with oversized library installations. To get your own book at Fiesta DC, stroll into the library from 11am-7pm, browse the shelves and walk out with a copy of classic—yet previously banned—books like The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros or How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez.
The project first kicked off in February with a commercial featuring Joyce Abbott, the retired Philly teacher who inspired "Abbott Elementary." The colorful libraries, decked out in art by local Philly talent Alloyius McIlwaine, are a key part of a project by the tourism board that aims to broadcast Philly as an accepting place where all voices matter.
If free books aren’t enough to lure you in, you can also enter for a chance to win a prize package that includes a two-night stay at a Philly hotel, a $150 gift card to Bolo Restaurant, a $100 shopping spree at Julia de Burgos Bookstore and a $200 Amtrak gift card.