Learn, Grow, Improve: Progressive Publishers Doing Cool Things is a monthly feature at The Book Smugglers, in which we spotlight new ventures, content creators and publishers that are doing awesome things – awesome, defined as something smart, admirable, and most importantly, progressive. There are plenty of new publishers that working to increase literacy, to raise money for charities across the globe, and who are redefining our concept of reading and of the book itself.
Today, we take a look at Book Aid International and their author talk event to celebrate World Book Night!
World Book Night is an annual celebration of books with the goal of encouraging non-readers to read, and takes place each year on April 23 (the UNESCO International Day of the Book, Shakespeare’s birthday, and the day of Miguel de Cervantes’ death). On this date, more than 25,000 volunteers in the USA, UK, Ireland, and Germany will be distributing over half a million books within their communities to people who don’t regularly read.
Book Aid International, a charity that increases access to books to support literacy, education and development in sub-Saharan Africa, is partnering with World Book Night and will be hosting an author talk event on April 23.
Book Aid International Event for WBN 2013
When: Tuesday 23rd April, 2013 7 pm
Where: Canada Water Library, 21 Surrey Quays Road, London, SE16 7AR
Tickets: £10 (includes a free drink) – purchase them online HERE
On April 23, an evening of exclusive author talks, live music and book giveaways will take place! Four very different authors will be in conversation about their love of reading:
Comedian, classicist and author Natalie Haynes (BBC2’s The Review Show) will be talking about the joys of a good book with Book Aid International’s literary guests on World Book Night.
James Mayhew (Katie’s Picture Show) will be drawing and then auctioning one of his famous illustrations; Beverley Naidoo (The Other Side of Truth) will be talking about her love of reading; and biographer Robert Douglas-Fairhurst (Becoming Dickens) will be discussing why we relish reading about other people’s lives.
Profits from this event go to Book Aid International – to train librarians and transforms libraries, helping to create community spaces that change lives.
About Book Aid International:
Over 50 years
30 million books sent – 516,138 in 2011 alone
More than 2,000 libraries supported annually, reaching at least 2.5 million people every single year
Book Aid currently works in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Palestine, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Book Aid also has a small program in The Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Nambi Sseppuuya Community Resource Center, Uganda
Every year, the charity sends around half a million brand new books to partners, which are read over and over again by millions of readers. Book Aid works closely with the book and publishing trade in the UK, who donate nearly all of the books sent.
For more about Book Aid International, visit the official website HERE, follow them on facebook, and on twitter (@Book_Aid).
For more about World Book Night, visit the official website HERE.
4 Comments
Eliza
April 22, 2013 at 12:56 pmI’m not part of the official book give away, but I am giving away a bunch of my own books tomorrow (4/23). Just hope it’s not raining or foggy, otherwise I’ll have to put each book in a zip lock baggie to protect it.
Thea
April 23, 2013 at 10:06 amHappy World Book Night (day) everyone!
Eliza – I hear you! I’m not an official giver either (neither is Ana), but I plan on passing out some books later this afternoon! On that note…if there’s one really frustrating thing about WBN, it’s the fact that they make it fairly hard to be a Giver. (I’m pretty sure Ana was rejected (!!!) in 2011.)
PrintPlace Coupon
April 29, 2013 at 8:46 pmYou actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this
topic to be really something that I think I would never understand.
It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of
it!
Jacob
May 2, 2013 at 8:47 pmWay cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this post and also
the rest of the website is really good.