Encourage adult reading!

November 15, 2012 5:43 PM

World Book Night in the USA, UK, Germany Readers, give away free books you love! Encourage reading!

World Book Night started in the UK giving away books specifically to encourage reading in light or non-readers who are adults (as opposed to children, who get World Book Day already). It has grown to include the US & Germany. Each "giver" selects one title from 30 books selected for the event. The giver receives twenty copies of the book and gives them away on April 23, 2013 (picked for Shakespeare's birthday).

It's a wonderful reading & community event, with specially-published editions of each title for World Book Night. The authors voluntarily forego any royalties, and publishers eat the cost of production. Here's the UK/Ireland 2013 titles and US 2013 titles. Givers pick up the books at a local bookstore or library, so it's a community event.

The only difficulty is choosing just one title from the list of thirty. Simple, on-line application if you follow the links! Previously

posted by Pocahontas (6 comments total)

I'm so bummed that this hasn't expanded to Canada yet.
posted by peppermind at 6:15 PM on November 15, 2012

I picked up my books last year at my local independent bookstore Pegasus Books and I was so impressed because my twenty books were pre-packed, labeled, and sealed in a box for me, all ready to go by the WBN folks. I imagined a messy pile of books that I had to dig through, to get my copies. Pegasus was awesome, had some refreshments, and called it a WBN book pickup party.
posted by Pocahontas at 7:49 PM on November 15, 2012

Woohoo, free judge dredd coming up in April!
posted by biffa at 11:29 PM on November 15, 2012

Ohhhh, I'm so excited for this! They have an amazing set of selections this year and I've read quite a few of them. I'm hoping to get my first choice of My Antonia to give to the residents in my grandmother's senior apartment complex.
posted by hollygoheavy at 6:36 AM on November 16, 2012

I did this last year. Maybe it's because I was trying to give them away on the street in Brooklyn, but most people reacted as if a) I was a cult member b) it was a scam, and I was trying to take money from them or c) I was crazy. Though I did manage to give away all 20 copies of OSCAR WAO. Signed up this year, and hoping I get picked again. You know that great feeling you get when you loan a book to a friend or cow-orker? Imagine feeling that 20 times over all in one day. Sign up, people!
posted by old_growler at 12:16 PM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Last year I had a great time handing out books on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Many of the tourists thought it was a scam and ignored us, but we also met a bunch of really nice people who were thrilled to get a free book. It was an awesome experience.
posted by slmorri at 4:24 PM on November 16, 2012