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World Book Night

28 February 2011

World Book Night is practically upon us, and thousands in the UK will help celebrate it this coming Saturday, 5 March. This year the organisers have broken away from the traditional Quick Reads and book tokens for children - although the traditional programmes are still there - to go for a much larger promotion.

Jamie Byng, Publisher of Canongate and the Chair of World Book Night, came up with the ingenious idea of harnessing the power of 20,000 volunteer book enthusiasts, who have been tasked with the job of giving away 48 books each, making for one million books altogether. Publishers and authors have cooperated to supply the books and allow their books to be used. The idea is that this wave of enthusiasm will get everyone reading.

There's also going to be a big party in Trafalgar Square, with 5,000 WBN givers and friends and 5,000 members of the public, will be able to attend the event. Tickets are being allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with 2,500 pairs of tickets set aside for givers.

Margaret Atwood, Alan Bennett and John Le Carré will be among the authors headlining the World Book Night launch event in Trafalgar Square on 4th March. Graham Norton will compere the event, with Philip Pullman, Sarah Waters, Mark Haddon and Derek Walcott also among those who will be reading and performing on the night. Nick Cave, Rupert Everett, Hanif Kureishi, D B C Pierre, Edna O'Brien and Lemn Sissay complete the line-up.

Ten more Quick Reads will be published on 3 March, to join the 60 titles in the series already published and proven to help people get reading and to encourage them to become more confident. The various children's promotions which have been run in the past will also be repeated again this year, but the accent is firmly on adult readers this year, and encouraging many of them to get reading or read more.

World Book Night

World Book Day

Quick Reads