World Book Night is an annual celebration of reading which takes place on 23 April: UNESCO’s International Day of the Book, chosen in honour of Shakespeare and Cervantes. It was probably Shakespeare’s birthday and both died on that day in 1616.
Volunteers can share their love of reading by giving out books in their communities to people who, for whatever reason, don’t read for pleasure or own books. It’s run by the charity The Reading Agency
If you’d like to be a volunteer and receive books to share, apply here. You can collect your WBN books from most Leeds Libraries. We’ll also be posting details of our own events for 23rd April later on, where you can join us and give out books.
The titles are great! ‘Water Elephants’ by Sarah Gruen (When Jacob Jankowski – recently orphaned and suddenly adrift – jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters and misfits in the form of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a travelling circus struggling to survive the Great Depression) – has had some fantastic ratings from our readers, as has ‘Queen’s Gambit’ – a riveting account of Katherine Parr, the Tudor queen who married four men and outlived three of them – including Henry VIII. But they’re all good.
The 20 titles for World Book Night 2015 are:
- After the Fall by Charity Norman
- Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton
- Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
- Chickenfeed by Minette Walters (Quick Read)
- Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson
- Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle (Quick Read)
- Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden
- Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy, Neil Astley (ed.)
- Honour by Elif Shafak
- My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
- Prime Suspect by Lynda La Plante
- Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle
- Skellig by David Almond
- Spring Tide by Cilla and Rolf Börjlind
- Street Cat Bob by James Bowen (Quick Read)
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- The Moaning of Life by Karl Pilkington
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman
