World Book Night, April 23rd 2014

World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books. It is celebrated on April 23rd in the UK, Ireland and the USA. April 23rd is a symbolic date for world literature, it is both the birth and death day of Shakespeare as well as the death day of Cervantes (a great Spanish novelist), so is very fitting for a literary event!

From late November 2013 it is being run by The Reading Agency – the charity with a mission to give everyone an equal chance to become a reader. World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging those who have lost the love of reading – or are yet to gain it – to pick up a book and read.

World Book Night sees volunteers gift books to people who don’t regularly read, to encourage them to do so – there are also hundreds of events from small community gatherings to author readings. Volunteers do not have to pay or make a donation to take part and anyone can sign up to be a World Book Night volunteer giver.

The books our volunteers gift are either provided by us as World Book Night editions of specially chosen books or, for the first time in 2014, chosen and provided by the volunteers themselves.

Before World Book Night we recruit the volunteers who make World Book Night happen. Volunteers who wish to gift the books we provide have to prove they can reach people who don’t regularly read. Book givers who are giving their own books are still asked to sign up but don’t have to fill in a full application form.

What are World Book Night’s aims?



· To raise the profile of reading through a mass engagement project which works at a grass roots level to inspire those who don’t regularly read to do so

 · To place books into the hands of those who don’t regularly read

 · To raise the profile of reading for pleasure through a series of celebratory events

· To improve literacy in the UK and Ireland

· To bring communities together

How does World Book Night achieve this?

· Getting people involved in distributing books and organising events in their communities

 · Using a grassroots approach to encouraging more people to gain the reading habit

· Emphasing that reading is something to be enjoyed not just about education

· Selecting high quality books across a variety of genres to appeal to the broadest range of people, with high production values and meeting good accessibility standards, including those for people who are not yet confident readers

· Providing an incentive to carry on reading while they are still fired up and excited by providing hand-picked recommendations and opportunities to get involved in other community reading programmes run by The Reading Agency

The list of 20 books has been released on the World Book Night website, and are as follows:

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Four Warned by Jeffrey Archer
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
Short Stories by Roald Dahl
Confessions of a GP by Dr Benjamin Daniels
Hello Mum by Bernardine Evaristo
Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
Theodore Boone by John Grisham
The Humans by Matt Haig
The Perfect Murder by Peter James
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Today Everything Changes by Andy McNab
Geezer Girls by Dreda Say Mitchell
CHERUB: The Recruit by Robert Muchamore
Whatever it Takes by Adele Parks
Black Hills by Nora Roberts
The Boy with the Topknot by Sathnam Sanghera
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman 

 

This would be a really interesting thing to participate in, and also enables you to spread your love for literature and reading.

If you would like to get involved or find out more about World Book Night please go to http://www.worldbooknight.org/ .