Imagine if on Halloween you gave out books instead of candy—on April 23, World Book Night, you could do just that. The campaign plans to give away one million books, and are accepting applications for “50,000 passionate readers” to serve as “book givers.”
The World Book Night committee, made up of booksellers and librarians, has selected 30 titles to give away, including Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Room by Emma Donoghue, The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
World Book Night’s director says that book sales increased after World Book Night in the UK, and that “We believe that reading begets reading.”
The costs of the paperback World Book Night special editions will be borne by publishers, printers and paper companies, and all the chosen authors are waiving royalties.
How cool is that? And wouldn’t it be awesome to be a book giver that day, handing entertainment out?
