Last Saturday 5th was World Book Night and Penguins were out in force, giving away some of the million free books, attending events on the night and the night before, and looking after some of the authors chosen. Here’s just a taster of what they did …
Eleo Gordon, Editorial Director
I was meant to cruise the Market Place of Andover handling out my wares – 48 copies of All Quiet on the Western Front. What happened was somewhat different. I was invited to a Christening of a baby with a good group of people attending. So here is where the copies went, with enormous pleasure on their behalf:
12 copies to the House of Commons
3 copies to the Australian Embassy
10 copies to a school in Ladbroke Grove to give to parents and staff
5 copies to a nursery school in Fulham to give to staff and parents
10 copies to random people at the Christening
4 copies to people on the tube
3 copies left in the boot of my car still to be given out.
An enjoyable experience!
Lija Kresowaty, Publicity Assistant
I went to the WBN party at Royal Festival Hall on Saturday night to watch Penguin authors Joe Dunthorne and Rebecca Hunt in action. As a loyal expat Canadian, the highlight of my night was wandering shamelessly into the VIP area to get Margaret Atwood to sign my old university copy of Surfacing – now complete with both my embarrassing scribbles ("why?" "sex object?") and best wishes from the first lady of Canadian literature.
Joanna Prior, MD of Penguin General
I went to the big WBN launch event on Friday night in Trafalgar Square. Graham Norton compered with great skill and energy but the stars were undoubtedly the writers – Margaret Atwood, Monica Ali, Edna O'Brien, Alan Bennett, John le Carre and others. There was no razzmatazz, just readings from great works of fiction, memoir and poetry and this was enough to hold mesmerised an audience of several thousand, standing in the chill of Trafalgar Square. I think it set some kind of new benchmark for live book events. We should be ambitious and unapologetic about putting our writers in front of an audience. For many people there on Friday, it was their first ever encounter with a real live author and they will be back for more.
On Saturday I gave out my 48 copies of The Reluctant Fundamentalist after the QPR home game against Leicester at Loftus Road. (1-0 to QPR in the final moments of the match should you be interested.) Slightly nervous, I stood just outside the grounds and caught people as they streamed out. It didn't take me long to off-load my hoard. I was met with a wonderful range of responses from "I'd rather shoot myself" and "I don't/can't read" to "Can I take one for my wife – she's the reader", and "Oh free book, great thanks". I'm pretty sure no one had heard of World Book Day or Night, but I came away thinking that I had probably found a handful of new readers for this terrific book – and I know this book will affect those people in a positive way. It felt like a good thing to have done.
Saturday night was a feast of book programmes on the BBC, from 7.30 onwards and rather than join the party on the South Bank, I opted to stay in and watch it all. I feel sure we'll see the return of WBN again next year after such a positive weekend of feasting on literature.
Mary Mount, Editorial Director
As I set off towards Trafalgar Square on Friday afternoon I realised I had no idea what to expect from the World Book Event being hosted there that evening. How would writers read to crowds of thousands on a cold, dark night in March? Would there actually be thousands of people in Trafalgar Sq on a cold, dark night in March – or just a few lost, freezing tourists and men in suits hurrying home from the office?
The first indication of the surprising nature of the evening was to see the figure of Rupert Everett wandering around the perimeter of Canada House (where security passes were being handed out) trying to find a way in. The next was the enormous stage between two lions and Nelson's Column lit up with the words 'World Book Night.' After managing to secure several security wristbands (I was beginning to feel like a groupie trying to get backstage at Glastonbury) I found my way into the author tent, lit by an orange electric fire and crammed to bursting with authors, actors and musicians – John le Carré, Alan Bennett, Margaret Atwood, Mark Haddon, Suggs, Nick Cave, David Nichols, Monica Ali, Philip Pullman to name but a few.
Then it got increasingly surreal: Margaret Atwood discussing the astrological significance of the uprisings in the Middle East, Edna O'Brien looking about twenty-five, several other authors staring nervously into the middle distance while their agents kept saying in upbeat voices 'there are lots of people out there!'. A little concerned that 'a lot' in publishing could mean anything from 10 people to 500 (and Trafalgar Sq never felt bigger…) I stepped outside the tented zone to get a better look. It was fantastic – there were thousands of people, the square lit up on all sides and a real air of anticipation. Then the readings began – the real highlights for me were Alan Bennett reading from his memoir, Suggs reading the wonderfully moving and wonderfully London poem, ‘On a Portrait of a Deaf Man’ by John Betjeman and the finale – John le Carré’s powerful reading from the beginning of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, particularly when, just before he started to read, he asked the audience to imagine that we were standing not in front of Nelson’s Column but in front of the Brandenburg Gate, and it was covered in barbed wire.
I’m not sure why, having attended lots of festivals and bookshop events over the years, I found this event so inspiring. Perhaps it was the infectious excitement of the crowds, maybe it was being in the middle of Trafalgar Square and seeing books celebrated in such a big way, or maybe it was just hearing great authors read from great books. It probably was as simple as that.
Ben Brusey, Editorial Assistant
I was shivering like everyone else in Trafalgar square on Friday, but it was worth every goosebump- Graham Norton was giggling, the authors were dazzling, and the crowd was whooping. The lineup was seriously impressive and genuinely squeal-inducing. Highlights had to be the ever-charming Alan Bennett (what a nice bloke), the wonderfully weird Margaret Atwood – bizzarrely giving dating tips – and of course the inimitable John le Carré, the spy who finally came out in the cold who effortlessly transformed central London into Cold War Germany, and showed his Jason Bourne-like reflexes to catch his crib notes when they were blown by the wind. Everyone left happy – a brilliant event for book lovers and a superb advert for reading in general.
Rosamund Hutchison, Press Officer
Luminous Books in Hackney is an artist curated second hand bookshop in East London focusing on fiction, philosophy and art. On Saturday Luminous Books held a Southern Gothic evening in celebration of World Book Night and gave away copies of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved'. C.A. Smith 'the Canadian one man band' read extracts from 'Beloved'. There was great live blues music from 'Six Toe Joe' and 'Big Finger Rowe' as well as an amazing acoustic set from 'Miraculous Mule'. There was an impressive display of Southern Gothic themed literature from Truman Capote rare editions to Nick Cave and the dancing and delicious gumbo kept us warmed up. A wonderful WBN celebration! Thanks Luminous http://luminousbooks.tumblr.com/
World Book Night was an enormous project, and one that will hopefully happen again on an even bigger scale next year. Everyone involved that I met really enjoyed themselves. There were some teething problems, inevitable with an undertaking so vast, but it’s hard to argue with the sight of 10,000 people on a freezing night in Trafalgar Square, 1,000 people at the Royal Festival Hall, and an entire evening of BBC programmes dedicated to books. People turned out in force and put on a good show.
All photographs copyright World Book Night
Did you go to WBN?
If so, and you're on Twitter, upload a picture, tag it #WBNpic and we'll pick a few to add to this blog post.
Joe Pickering
Publicity Manager
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