World Book Night U.S. released the schedule for its third annual campaign, which will culminate in the nationwide event on April 23, 2014. The organization, which coordinated a giveaway of about 500,000 free books in 2013, aims to promote reading by rallying authors, publishers and booksellers across the country to give away specially printed, preselected titles one night a year.
Nominations by last year’s givers for new titles begin today (July 16), and the final selections will be decided on by a panel of booksellers and librarians. The WBN will choose its honorary co-chairpeople this summer, posts held last year by novelists Ann Patchett and James Patterson, and bookstore and library host location sign-up will take place this fall. The WBN books for 2014 will be announced on October 23, the same day giver application will begin. The number of givers will be held at 25,000.
“We’ll opt for quality over quantity, as we did last year,” said WBN U.S. executive director Carl Lennertz. “With the same number of volunteers and books, we continue to target more carefully those in need, while generating enormous local and national publicity in support of a reading-and-giving message.”
In 2014, WBN hopes to double the number events to 50 or more, and add a digital component. For more information on the organization, click here.
