World Book Night: coming your way, but no room for Amazon
滨迟鈥檚 the Super Bowl of literary athletes, the Mardi Gras of bibliophilic partiers, Christmas for book-lovers across the world.
滨迟鈥檚 , the day when tens of thousands of volunteers in the US and Europe will hand out millions of free books to underserved communities to encourage reading.
In the US, 25,000 volunteers will distribute 500,000 free paperback books in some 5,800 communities across the country through book-centered events and community drop-offs. In Britain, 20,000 volunteers will distribute . Ireland and Germany are celebrating, too.
鈥湵醭兮�檚 like an intellectual Halloween, only better,鈥� novelist and essayist Anna Quindlen, the program鈥檚 honorary chairwoman, told . 鈥淲e鈥檙e giving out books, not just Mars bars.鈥�
Sponsored by a coalition of publishers, booksellers, and librarians, World Book Night is modeled after a British program that began last year.
The point, says World Book Night director Carl Lennertz, 鈥渋s to get good books in the hands of people who are underserved because of income or location or other reasons.鈥�
Though there is no public registry of who鈥檚 giving away books where, participants will be handing out books in schools, prisons, and homeless shelters, some of which will be posted on Facebook and Pinterest.
鈥湵醭兮�檚 also about giving,鈥� he told . 鈥淭here may not be anything that says, 鈥業 care about someone else, friend or stranger,鈥� more than handing them a book that you personally love and want to share.鈥�
In the US, a committee of librarians, publishers, and booksellers selected to distribute, including novels like Khaled Hosseini鈥檚 鈥�The Kite Runner,鈥� memoirs like Patti Smith鈥檚 鈥淛ust Kids,鈥� non-fiction like Dave Eggers鈥� 鈥淶eitoun,鈥� and young adult hits like Suzanne Collins鈥� 鈥�The Hunger Games.鈥�
April 23 is the UNESCO International Day of the Book, chosen in honor of Shakespeare and Cervantes, both of whom died on April 23, 1616. World Book Night honors these literary titans and legions of others.
(An interesting aside: At yet another book industry jab at Amazon, reports most of the publishing industry, including Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, is involved in underwriting . The one exception? Amazon. It wasn鈥檛 asked to participate because 鈥渢he philosophy behind World Book Night has been about physical books in physical places, handed out person to person,鈥� said Lennertz.)
To find out more about World Book Night and how you can participate, visit .
Happy World Book Night!
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
