6 December 2016: Today we announce new plans for World Book Night 2017. The targeted giveaway will see us working more closely with care homes, youth centres, colleges, prisons, public libraries, mental health groups and other charities to match books with new readers.
Partners will help us to get books into the hands of the following audiences:
• Adults with low literacy levels or who don’t read for pleasure
• Isolated and vulnerable older people
• LGBTQ groups
• Men and women of all ages in UK prisons
• Parents and vulnerable pregnant women
• People with mental health issues
• Young people who don’t read for pleasure
The varied titles to be given to these organisations include books from publishers large and small, and have been selected with the needs of these audiences in mind. Books include the bestselling memoir The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink, modern classic Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi , Polari Prize winner The Good Son by Paul McVeigh, bestselling colouring book Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta as well as novels by Lucy Diamond and Ann Cleeves, whose Quick Reads titles were included in last year’s giveaway.
This more targeted approach to the next World Book Night, which takes place every year on 23 April, will be celebrated with events in libraries, bookshops and other community settings nationwide. It builds on the work already done by The Reading Agency since it began running World Book Night in 2013.
Publishers have so far donated the following books:
The Bones of Grace by Tahmima Anam (Canongate)
Payback by Kimberley Chambers (Harper)
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)
A Very Distant Shore by Jenny Colgan (Orion) Quick Reads
Streets of Darkness by A. A. Dhand (Transworld)
The Beach Café by Lucy Diamond (Pan Macmillan)
Faded Glory by David Essex (Head of Zeus)
Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo (Penguin General)
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding (Vintage)
The Traitor (Carnivia Trilogy) by Jonathan Holt (Head of Zeus)
False Nine (Scott Manson series) by Philip Kerr (Head of Zeus)
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence (Hachette Children’s)
Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta (Pavilion)
The Good Son by Paul McVeigh (Salt)
One False Move by Dreda Say Mitchell (Hodder & Stoughton) Quick Reads
Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Penguin Random House Children’s)
The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink (Pan Macmillan)
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Vintage)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Penguin General)
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (Harlequin)
The Missing by C. L. Taylor (Avon)
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen Aged 83 ¼ – Anonymous (Michael Joseph)
Further titles from Simon & Schuster, Little Brown and Mills and Boon will be announced shortly. As well as this giveaway through organisations, The Reading Agency will continue to encourage individuals to gift their own or newly bought books and record this via a newly created Goodreads community. The charity will also work with the wider business community to help extend the reach of World Book Night through an employee volunteering offer.
Sue Wilkinson, Chief Executive, The Reading Agency says:
“Our aim with World Book Night has always been to reach and develop new readers. This new approach, developed in consultation with our publisher, library and author partners, will make us better able to do so. Working with our community of enthusiastic readers as well as businesses, we’re excited about being able to get brilliant books to those who haven’t yet encountered them.”
Bernadine Evaristo, whose book Mr Loverman has been donated by Penguin Random House, says:
“This is a fantastic book promotion scheme that provides a great opportunity to introduce a range of literature to new audiences. I’m delighted to be a part of it.”
After World Book Night 2015, 80% of recipients who said they previously never read or read less than once a month said that they had read more since World Book Night. After the 2016 event, a follow-up survey gleaned further positive results; 99% of recipients said that they were pleased to have been given a World Book Night title as a gift. 72% had already recommended the book to someone else, while 47% had gone on to buy more books and 37% had borrowed more books from the library.
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