World Book Night 2013: Time to Start Planning! 11/30/2012

You may have heard of World Book Night–that is the event on April 23rd (Shakespeare’s birthday and Cervantes’ death date) where publishers and booksellers help volunteers give away free books to people in public settings all over the world. (There’s a US, a UK/Ireland, and a Germany branch, so both sides of the pond can participate.You can start with www.worldbooknight.org for more info.)  Last year I gave away 20 copies of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian at the Alaska Native Medical Center’s pediatrics wing, and had a blast. To see more examples of how volunteers gave away books, see their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/wbnamerica.

Ann Patchett and James Patterson are the honorary chairpersons for 2013. Thanks to them and all the publishers, authors, booksellers and others who make this event possible.

They’ve already decided on the list of titles for the 2013 World Book Night. People who want to volunteer can look at the 30 titles and choose three to list on their application along with their plans of where/how to give their books away, due January 23. Now is a good time to look over the list and start thinking about what you’d like to do. I’m leaning toward Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, but I’m still thinking of a cool place to hand them out. Any ideas? 🙂