World Book Night – 5th March 2011: Do you love a book so much you want everyone to read it?

With the big night less than thirty-six hours away I thought I would write something about World Book Night 2011 which I am lucky enough to be a part of.

The idea behind World Book Night came from Jamie Byng of Canongate Books as a spin-off from World Book Day (3rd of March in the UK). It is intended to get more people reading by giving away 1 million free books and is backed by many publishers and authors. World Book Night will take place on Saturday 5th March 2011 throughout the UK and Ireland. 1 million books were printed for World Book Night; 40,000 copies of 25 books. 20,000 ‘givers’ have been chosen to hand out forty-eight copies each of their chosen book.

The twenty-five titles were selected by an editorial committee, chaired by James Naughtie and consisting of authors, critics, journalists, actors, publishers and more. The selection of books they chose is suitably varied: ‘The Blind Assassin’ by Margaret Atwood, ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell, ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison, ‘The World’s Wife’’ by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ by Mark Haddon are just five of the novels chosen.

The books have been distributed to collection points across the UK and Ireland and picked up by the givers ready for the big night. On 5th March the givers must distribute their books for free any way they like, anywhere they like and to anyone they like.

Before this flurry of giving commences on the 5th March however, there is going to be an official launch night for the project. Tonight (4th March) there is going to be a spectacular event held in Trafalgar Square to celebrate the scheme. There will be plenty of celebrities including Margaret Atwood, Alan Bennett, Nick Cave, John Le Carre, Rupert Everett, Mark Haddon, Hanif Kureishi, Graham Norton, Edna O'Brien, DBC Pierre, Philip Pullman, Lemn Sissay and Sarah Waters. Many authors will be giving readings of their works and I understand some of the other celebrities may give readings of their favourite books. The event audience will comprise of 5000 givers and 5000 members of the public.

In its inaugural year World Book Night will be limited to the UK and Ireland but plans are already being made for 2012’s World Book Night which will be global.

I first applied to become a giver just after Christmas last year. I found out I was successful on 1st Feb and I picked up my wristband for the Trafalgar Square launch yesterday (as well as getting a special limited edition World Book Night t-shirt designed  by Anthony Gormley!).

The book I’ve chosen to give away is ‘The Blind Assassin’ by Margaret Atwood. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that Margaret Atwood is my favourite author. I’ve read pretty much every novel she’s written (not much of the poetry though, I am embarrassed to admit) and I even wrote my dissertation for my English degree on her novels. So when I saw the choices of books I knew there was no other option for me. I read ‘The Blind Assassin’ a few years ago now and although it is not my absolute favourite Atwood book (favourites are: ‘Oryx and Crake’, ‘The Year of the Flood’ and ‘Lady Oracle’), I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is quite a dark read but also quite funny and fantastical.

Today, before heading to Trafalgar Square I’ll be starting the process of writing my forty-eight identification numbers on to my forty-eight books. This will enable me to track were the books go once I hand them out. This is something I’m particularly excited about as I think it will be wonderful to see just how many people these books get to reach. In order to make this tracking possible World Book Night has collaborated with the Book Crossing website (http://www.bookcrossing.com/) who have provided the unique identification codes.

World Book Night has not been received positively by all; several people fear that giving away these books for free will damage already struggling independent book shops. I hope that the scheme will do the opposite. When first applying to be a giver I noticed that one of the requests that the organisers made was that the books were passed to people who might not otherwise have read them. I think this is an excellent idea and if only a few thousand books are given to people who otherwise wouldn’t have bought a book it could result in many more books sales. I have spoken to many people who have said that they were not readers until they came across one particular book (often the Harry Potter series) which opened their eyes to the world of literature and encouraged them to read more. How wonderful would it be if one of the copies of ‘The Blind Assassin’ I give away speaks to someone in such a way as to make them a reader for life? Even if the majority of books do go to people who are already book fans it could still encourage book sales. I am an avid reader anyway but I know that when I read a particularly good book I tend to look out for more by that author.

There may have been few teething problems with World Book Night (website crashes and delayed information to name a few) but I think that is to be expected in the opening year and I know that I, for one, am genuinely excited and proud to be part of such a seminal and ambitious project.

For more information on World Book Night, including how to register for 2012 go to:

http://www.worldbooknight.org/index.php