World Book Night Trafalgar Square Launch (Fri 4th March 2011)

I'm finally getting around to writing about the World Book Night Trafalgar Square launch. It's lucky I'd made notes or else I'd have forgotten who read what by now!

In our excitement to get to Trafalgar Square we ended up arriving an hour early. The launch was due to start at 18:00 and wrist-band holders could gain access to the Square from 17:00. While we waited we took a quick look around the maze-like National Gallery. We mainly saw paintings of Jesus and quite a few of people with heads disproportionately bigger than their bodies. Quite a few horses too (paintings of, I mean. Not just wandering around. I don’t think horses have much appreciation of art).

Once it hit 17:00 we entered Trafalgar Square and had a look around the booths of the various sponsors. Waterstones was there selling the World Book Night titles.  Sony was there advertising its new Reader, which we had a look at. We also got a free Innocent smoothie which was lovely.

A small stage had been set up in the square, where a few lucky givers were able to sit for a close up view of events. First up on the stage was Jamie Byng, owner of Canongate Publishing, who came up with the idea of World Book Night. Mr Byng spoke enthusiastically about why we read, quoting C.S. Lewis: “We read to know we are not alone.”

He also talked about World Book Night and what a unique event the Trafalgar Square launch was:

“Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted before. We are literally making history. We are also making literary history. For there has never ever been a gathering on the scale of what we are all part of here today in Trafalgar Square.”

Byng’s speech was greeted with cheers from the crowd, excited to be a part of “a giant celebration of writers and writing, readers and reading”. He then handed over to Graham Norton who was hosting the event. Norton started by reassuring the crowd that although he may seem an odd choice to present a literary event he wasn’t a complete stranger to the world of books: “You may be surprised to know that not only can I read, I enjoy it.” Norton did a fantastic job of keeping the crowd entertained in the freezing cold, at one point pointing out the backdrop of a fire place on stage which seemed to have been put there just to mock us all. Throughout the show he also spoke to the World Book Night givers, who were sat on the stage, about which books they were giving out (and where) and why they’d chosen that particular book.

The first author on stage was DBC Pierre, author of Booker Prize winning novel ‘Vernon God Little’ (which I read at uni). He read from ‘Bleak House’ by Charles Dickens.

Next up was Sarah Waters reading from her novel ‘Fingersmith’ which I have now started to read.

Then it was the turn of the multi-talented Alan Bennett reading from his book ‘A Life Like Other People's’. The section he read was about the last years of his mother’s life in a care home. Many of the things he’d written about rang true for me, the place his mother was in sounds similar to the one my Grandmother is in now. He captured superbly the curious awkwardness associated with regularly visiting one of these ‘homes’.

At the end of his reading he also spoke out about library cut-backs remarking that “the people who are going to suffer are children. Closing libraries is child abuse! It mustn’t happen!”  The crowd reacted to this speech passionately. I can’t imagine there are many book-lovers who are in favour of these closures and Bennett would have struggled to find another crowd as vehemently in agreement with him as we all were.

Rupert Everett was on stage next reading Graham Greene's ‘Travels With My Aunt’.

Next, Monica Ali (author of ‘Brick Lane’) read from Virginia Woolf’s ‘To the Lighthouse’.

After that Mark Haddon took to the stage. He was very charming and funny, announcing that he wasn’t going to read from his own novel (‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’) for fear that he’d ‘pass into a kind of standing coma having read it quite a lot. I mean it’s good and everything but...’. Instead he read from ‘Stuart: A Life Backwards’ by Alexander Masters, another one of the World Book Night titles. He also spoke about why he wanted to be involved in World Book Night:

‘World Book Night is about giving and sharing things for free in a world that’s obsessed with money and profit. Books like this are a celebration of empathy and compassion at a time where we’re desperately short of both.’

Following him was the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. He read a funny extract about a hangover from ‘Lucky Jim’ by Kingsley Amis. He provided more light relief by trying to leave the stage, not through the traditional exit of left or right, but through the middle of the back wall - perhaps drawn in by the representation of the roaring fire that I mentioned earlier. Graham Norton summed this up nicely by declaring, once Johnson had successfully managed to exit the stage, “He’s in charge.” A scary thought indeed.

Next up was poet Lemn Sissay reading from ‘Ulysses’, by Alfred Lord Tennyson. He gave a very dramatic and passionate reading and inspired “coat envy” in Graham Norton.

Then came the moment I had been waiting for. The appearance of Margaret Atwood, my favourite author. She read from her own novel ‘The Blind Assassin’. It was wonderful to be within such a short distance of someone I admire so much and to hear her read from one of her novels. That moment alone was worth the frostbite we almost incurred by standing in the cold for so long. 

Edna O’Brien read ‘Plunder’, from her new short story collection, ‘Saints and Sinners’ then Tracy Chevalier (author of ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’), read from ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison (another book I read at uni).

Next on stage was Suggs from Madness, which was a pleasant surprise. He read 'On a Portrait of a Deaf Man' by John Betjeman and spoke about how important reading had been for him as a child, He came from a family who had very little in material possessions but he remembers there being plenty of books. This allowed him to build his vocabulary which helped him make his escape in the lyrics of the songs he would go on to write.

David Nicholls was on stage next reading from his novel ‘One Day’. I read this book a few months ago and have already passed my copy on to a friend; I would definitely recommend reading it if you get the chance. He read out a letter that Dexter writes to Emma fairly near the beginning of the book and hearing it read by Nicholls was even funnier than hearing it in my own head when I read it originally.

The only duo of the evening was actors Hayley Atwell and Stanley Tucci (soon to be seen in Captain America The First Avenger). They read out the lyrics of Cole Porter’s song "Let's Do It".

Phillip Pullman came next reading from his novel ‘Northern Lights’. I’ve seen the film adaptation (‘The Golden Compass’) but haven’t read the novel so I was delighted when this was one of the books I was given at the launch. I’m looking forward to reading it.

Nick Cave read from Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’.

The final reading came from John Le Carré who read from his novel ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’.

We’d been asked to bring a few of our World Book Night books with us to swap at the end and Graham Norton ended the event by congratulating us for not burning them for warmth.

I gave away a few copies of ‘The Blind Assassin’ and received a copy of ‘Fingersmith’ and ‘Northern Lights’.  

Overall it was a fantastic event and although by the end of it I was so cold I could not feel my toes it was absolutely worth it to hear some amazing authors reading some fantastic books. It was also great to meet other givers and participate in such a unique occasion.