Get Involved
There are a lot of ways to help the Internationalist Prison Books Collective put free literature and educational materials into the hands of prisoners. We are always in need of your support. Every bit of help counts, whether it be volunteering your time, your experience, or making a donation to the project. Feel Free to contact us at prisonbooks@gmail.com for more information.
Donate Books
Most prisons do not allow hardcover books, therefore we can only send paperback books to prisoners. Donations must be in good condition. Also, we can use most non-fiction and fiction if it is in new or very good condition. These books can either be sold online or through book sales to raise money for postage. Each $3 that we raise is another prisoner that we can get books to.
PLEASE DONATE. THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS ARE ALWAYS IN DEMAND:
- Dictionaries (English, Spanish-English, and Law…)
- African-American history, politics, culture
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X and/or books about MLK, Jr.
- Latin American history, politics, culture
- GED or Basic Education Materials
- ESL books
- Books in Spanish
- Books about starting or running your own business
- Yoga, meditation, and other spiritual disciplines (such as Wicca)
- How-to books on art, carpentry, and other trades
- Queer Studies
- Health—particularly HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and Tuberculosis
- Books on social movements and liberation struggles
Book donations can be dropped off at Internationalist Books and Community Center on West Franklin in Chapel Hill. Because of space limitations, please contact us if you are bringing more than six boxes (919-942-1740 or prisonbooks@gmail.com).
Book Drives and Book Drop Off Sites
Please contact us if your business, church, or other organization would like to serve as a book drop off center and/or hold a book drive!
Volunteer
We constantly need help filling prisoner book requests. The work is very fulfilling: read a letter from a prisoner, find some books in our library and package them for mailing. If you would like to help, come by our workspace and we’ll get you started. There’s no need to sign up ahead of time and you can stay for as long as you wish. Workdays are on Sundays at 1pm, and our new space is located at 621 Hillsborough Road, Carrboro, NC 27510 (as of July 15, 2012). If you’re interested in helping out, but can’t make a workday, drop us an email at prisonbooks@gmail.com We are also always in need of help organizing fundraisers, teach-ins, and publicity.
Service Learning
Does your school, college or university have a service learning requirement? Are you looking for a place to complete an internship? We welcome high school and college students to complete their requirements with us. We can fill out whatever paperwork is necessary. In addition, we can arrange unpaid internships that will give you a wide range of experience and the opportunity to help a worthy cause. If you are interested, please talk to a member of the core group at one of our packing sessions or email prisonbooks@gmail.com.
Contribute Financially
We are a non-profit organization, relying solely on donations for our operating expenses, which primarily include the cost of postage for mailing packages. We are currently spending over $200 a week on postage alone, and are in desperate need of support. On this website you can make a one-time donation or sign up to be a “sustainer“, whereby a small sum (you choose the amount) is automatically deducted from your bank account every month. $10 per month sends over a hundred books into prison per year. Go here and then follow the directions to become a sustainer.
405 W. Franklin Street
Donate Other Materials
We are also in constant need of packaging materials. Please consider donating the following items:
- Packing materials
- Manila Envelopes
- Brown Paper Bags
- Packing tape
- Laptop computer
- Shipping Tape dispensers
- Sharpies
- Photocopying services
- Gift certificates to OfficeMax, Staples, etc.
- Stamps
We will be more than happy to provide you a receipt for tax purposes.
Monthly Collective Meetings
In addition to our weekly workdays, the group holds a collective meeting every month, where we plan fundraising initiatives, brainstorm future projects, discuss priorities, and generally assess how things are going. There are no presidents or “chairmen,” and all decisions are made by consensus. To attend collective meetings, we ask that participants have a long-term commitment to the group, and broadly share our vision for a world without prisons. If you have questions about this, feel free to drop us an email, come to one of our workdays, or stop by one of our political prisoner letter-writing nights.
Do you have a need for fiction? (unused)
Yes, always. You can drop them off at Internationalist Books, which is located at 405 W Franklin St.Thanks so much.
I have a loved one on the SHU at Wabash in Indiana and he is experiencing similar acts. There is supposed to be a demonstration at the State one day this week do you know anything about that? I will help in any way possible.
We haven’t heard anything, but if we do we will definitely post it on our blog. I’m sorry to hear that your loved one is on the SHU.
i would like to get involved on shipping books and writing back to prisoners. And i was wondering if I would be able to get the monthly political prisoner bday reminder fliers??? my address is 1720 maple ave, bakersfield ca 93304 my name is eevee
Hi. I work at The Sun magazine and we would love to donate 1,000 copies of our book Sunbeams. Is that something I can arrange with you?
Thanks.
My name is Holly and you can reach me at holly@thesunmagazine.org
I’m a big fan of what you guys do. I am a penfriend to two inmates so am behind any action to improve their situations.
One point – in your list of subject matters, ‘Queer studies’ seems a rather inappropriate term.
Keep up the good work!
Kirstee – Thanks for you support!
“Queer” is actually a very typical, contemporary word that a lot of GLBT folks use and self-identify with, as well as a word that is used to refer to writing and research which delves into gender, feminism, and sexuality in a subversive or radical way. We’re using it in this sense, certainly not in the old fashioned, homophobic fashion.