The East Asheville Public Library is handing its patrons blank canvases and a challenge: design a brand-new cover for a banned book, and your art could end up on a trading card given away during Banned Books Week. Buncombe County residents of all ages have until September 26 to submit original artwork for the project, according to Asheville.com.
The idea turns the usual library display on its head. Instead of asking readers to simply pick up a controversial title, the library is asking them to become creators — to imagine what Beloved, Maus, or To Kill a Mockingbird might look like through fresh eyes. Librarians will select which designs get printed as trading cards to be distributed during Banned Books Week, October 4–10, 2026.
How the project works
Participants are asked to create a new cover for a banned book, working with either paper or digital tools. The library suggests starting from a list of titles in its community art project announcement — which includes Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird — or researching another banned book through the American Library Association.
There is one firm rule about how the art gets made: it has to be fully human. The library requires that submissions be human-created and explicitly prohibits the use of artificial intelligence in producing designs, according to Asheville.com.
Paper designs can be dropped off at East Asheville Library, and submissions can also be emailed to [email protected]. Digital artists should prepare their work as a PNG, JPEG, or PDF file.
Artists must also complete a submission form, available through the library’s project announcement. The form asks for the book’s title, the artist’s name, and contact information — an email address or a phone number will do. Separately, it asks whether the artist wants the artwork displayed, whether it should be considered for a printed trading card, and whether they want to enter a themed-prize drawing.
A second year, bigger canvas
This is not the library’s first run at the project. It began in 2025, when 40 artists contributed designs and 18 of them were printed as trading cards and traded at East Asheville Library, according to Asheville.com.
That history gives this year’s call a track record to build on. Last year’s contributors proved there was an appetite for the format — small, collectible cards that turn books many people have been told not to read into objects worth holding onto and swapping. This year’s September 26 deadline is the chance for a new round of residents to add their names to the set.
The final call on which designs become trading cards rests with the library’s own staff: librarians will choose the designs that get printed for the October observance.
Why it matters
Banned Books Week arrives each fall as a national reminder of attempts to remove books from schools and libraries — and of the people who push back. East Asheville’s trading-card project pushes back in a particularly local way: not with a statement, but with a table of neighbors trading art they made with their own hands.
For young readers especially, designing a cover means engaging with a book’s ideas before ever opening it. A kid who draws a new cover for Maus has already asked herself what the book is about, who its characters are, and what image could carry its weight. That is the kind of close reading no test can measure.
And in a year when the library asks explicitly for human-made art, the project doubles as a small affirmation of craft — that a person’s imagination, pencil, and perspective are worth printing, trading, and keeping.
What to know before you submit
The basics, per the library’s announcement:
- Who can enter: Buncombe County residents of any age.
- Deadline: September 26, 2026.
- What to make: An original new cover for a banned book — on paper or digital.
- AI policy: Fully human-created work only; AI-generated designs are prohibited.
- How to submit: Bring paper designs to East Asheville Library, or email submissions to [email protected]; digital files in PNG, JPEG, or PDF.
- The form: Include the book title, your name, and contact information (email or phone), plus your choices on display, trading-card consideration, and the themed-prize drawing.
- What happens next: Librarians select which designs become trading cards distributed during Banned Books Week, October 4–10, 2026.
Sources
- Asheville.com, “East Asheville Library Seeks Banned Book Art by September 26th” — https://www.asheville.com/news/2026/09/east-asheville-library-seeks-banned-book-art-by-september-26/
- Buncombe County / PublicInput, 2026 Banned Book Trading Card Community Art Project announcement — https://publicinput.com/bannedbookcards
- American Library Association, Banned Books resources — https://www.ala.org/bbooks