World Book Night set to be the biggest single literary event in history
25 Feb 2011
Authors including John le Carre and Mark Haddon will give readings
The biggest single literary event in history is set to take place in London next week.
Best-selling authors Philip Pullman and John le Carre will be among the writers taking part in the launch of World Book Night.
They will be joined by host Graham Norton at the event in Trafalgar Square on Friday, March 4.
Organisers said they expected around 10,000 people - believed to the biggest-ever audience for a literary event - at what they described as "a glittering celebration of the written word".
Authors including playwright Alan Bennett, novelists le Carre and Nobel Prize winning poet Derek Walcott will take part in a series of readings and performances on the night.
Other confirmed guests include Edna O'Brien, DBC Pierre, Philip Pullman, Lemn Sissay and Mark Haddon.
Jamie Byng of Canongate Books, who started the event in 2009, said: "We felt that it was appropriate to launch World Book Night with a suitably ambitious event that celebrates on a large scale writing, reading and the shared experience that books can provide.
"This occasion in Trafalgar Square should deliver exactly that and is a memorable way of bringing thousands of the givers together."
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "The ability to put pen to paper has given us the glorious capacity to share experience, history and knowledge - and one of life's greatest pleasures, which is to read a book.
"World Book Night is a fantastic celebration of the written word, as well as our hardworking publishing sector, which I hope will stimulate latent as well as avid readers."
World Book Night itself, which takes place on Saturday, March 5, will see 20,000 people, or 'givers', hand out one million books for free in Great Britain and Ireland.
Listed books include All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time by Mark Haddon.
For more information visit: www.worldbooknight.org
ISBN: 9781849920414
By Jason Taylors
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