Books Unlocked - World Book Night

Reading for pleasure is a globally recognised indicator in a huge range of social issues from poverty to mental health, yet in the UK 36% of people don’t regularly read (DCMS, 2015).

World Book Night brings together a powerful collaboration of national partners – publishers, printers, distributors, libraries, booksellers, private donors, trusts and foundations – to inspire more people to read. Thousands of volunteers share their love of reading by giving out books to people in their communities who, for whatever reason, don’t read for pleasure or own books. National, regional and local events up and down the country celebrate the difference that reading makes to people’s lives.

World Book Night is celebrated on 23 April and run by The Reading Agency.

Because everything changes when we read.

History
World Book Night was first celebrated in the UK and Ireland in 2011 on 5 March. In 2012 it was moved to 23 April, the international day of the book and, probably, the birth and death date of William Shakespeare. It was also celebrated in the USA and Germany.

World Book Night was conceived of by Jamie Byng, MD of Canongate. It came out of a round table discussion at the Book Industry Conference in May 2010, the purpose of which was, quite simply, to imagine a way to encourage more adults to read. The chair of the discussion was Julia Kingsford, who went on to be World Book Night’s Chief Executive, and one of the participants was Ursula Mackenzie, Little, Brown CEO, who became a trustee.

The name took its lead from the well-established and successful children’s reading celebration in UK and Ireland called World Book Day. So as day is for children, then night is for adults and night is also when we traditionally think about celebrations.

In 2012 and 2013 World Book Night was celebrated in the USA as well as the UK and Ireland and almost 50,000 people gave a million books away in three different countries.

In late 2013 World Book Night became part of The Reading Agency and is now run as a Reading Agency programme as part of its work to inspire people to take up reading and celebrate the difference that reading makes to their lives.