If you've ever wondered what a library dedicated entirely to trouble-making books looks like, Porto has your answer. Inside the century-old walls of Livraria Lello, one of Europe's most storied bookshops, sits the Manifesto Library: a physical space housing around 100 titles that have been banned, censored, or aggressively challenged across different countries and eras.
The collection opened as part of BABELL, an inaugural literary festival celebrating books and reading. But what makes it remarkable isn't just the rebel roster of titles. It's that pop star Dua Lipa, through her Service95 Book Club, helped bring this from an online initiative into a real room where travelers and locals can walk in and actually hold these restricted works.
Why These Books Matter
The library organizes its collection around four thematic pillars: power, control, voice, and memory. You'll find Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale here, alongside work by Salman Rushdie, Olga Tokarczuk, and Reginald Dwayne Betts. Some were banned for exploring race and sexuality. Others faced restrictions simply for existing as LGBTQIA+ literature. A handful of these authors paid with their lives for putting words on the page.
In her statement about the library, Lipa called it "a shrine to books that have disappeared, to authors whose courage unmasks structures of power and control." She added something worth sitting with: "Sometimes the most subversive thing you can do is read a book and then talk about it."
Service95 Book Club started as Lipa's personal passion project, built on the belief that reading connects people across borders and circumstances. Each month, she recommends a new title and records conversations with authors for an accompanying podcast. What began as an online gathering has now evolved into something tangible, something you can visit.
The Bookshop's 120-Year Stand
Livraria Lello itself isn't neutral ground. For 120 years, this shop has operated on a simple conviction: that books are instruments of freedom. The decision to house the Manifesto Library here feels deliberate and historically weighty. Francisca Pedro Pinto, the bookshop's head of brand, put it plainly: "What is at stake is not only the future of reading, but a society's ability to imagine, interpret and build its own future."
The partnership transforms a digital book club into something visitors can experience while they're in Porto, one of Portugal's most captivating cities. You could spend a morning walking through the historic center, then step into this library and encounter the words that governments and institutions tried to suppress.
A Growing Literary Force
Lipa's involvement in the literary world extends beyond this Porto project. She's set to curate the London Literature Festival at Southbank Centre later in the year, signaling that her commitment to championing global voices goes well beyond her music career. For someone who could spend their time anywhere, she's choosing to spend it in rooms filled with challenging, difficult, necessary books.
If you're planning a trip to Porto, the Manifesto Library at Livraria Lello deserves a spot on your itinerary. It's a chance to see what a library of resistance looks like, to hold books that matter, and to be reminded that sometimes the act of reading itself is a quiet, powerful rebellion.
