Next week, volunteers will take to the street on Wednesday April 23— with books.
Over 25,000 official World Book Night givers will distribute free books to people in their communities– giving books to people “who don’t regularly read.” At shelters, at movie theaters, at malls, at hospitals, at homeless shelters, at grocery stores, and more, each World Book Night volunteer will hand out a title they chose from the 33 official books.
Many bookstores and their staff are involved, some organizing and providing pick-up locations and some just as volunteers themselves. Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, WA and Vintage Books in Vancouver, WA have been posting fun photos of volunteers and their boxes of books.
Authors of the chosen books waive their royalties for the WBN copies and their publishers pay to print special free copies to distribute. Pacific Northwest authors Maria Semple (Where’d You Go Bernadette in paperback and in large print from Back Bay Books of Hachette Book Company), Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet in paperback and in large print from Ballantine of Random House), and Cheryl Strayed (Wild from Vintage Books of Random House) are among those generous authors represented.
For more information about World Book Night, please see the official website. Then watch for volunteer sign-ups for next year!