World Book

Reading books for the pleasure of it doesn't often make the national news. So, lots of people knew about this event and were ready to scoop those volumes out of my hands as soon as I hit the streets.

1,000,000 free books to be given away? I'm not sure that the titles made any difference. Lots of people were determined to get a copy, any copy. Some were blatantly acquiring quite a collection.

And while it was totally inspiring and interesting to talk to lots of people about books and reading and writing that night, I was more interested in surprising people who either didn't know about the event or who don't read books.

I had a few surprises myself. When I asked one man if he'd like a copy he yelled the loudest NO I have ever heard in my life. I responded with the quietest ok I have ever heard in my life and thankfully, we walked off in different directions.

The Big Issue sellers on the main street in town, were delighted because they had heard about it on Radio 4 and thought they had missed their chance because they were busy working. One lady told me she didn't want to read about Jesus. I didn't like to tell her that I don't think he's in the one I was giving.

All the others seemed genuinely pleased and surprised to receive a book out of the blue. I was as well, when someone insisted that a "giver" should receive a book too. I came home with a volume I haven't read by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera.

Whatever the critics say, there was a buzz that night as if someone had struck a spark for literature. And I Tuesday, 1 March 2011

World Book Night

It was very exciting to go to my local bookshop and pick up a crate of books today. I'm a "giver" in this Saturday's World Book Night which is basically a massive book give away. Here's the link to all the info.

Click!

I couldn't wait. Had to open the box and just take a look. I've chosen one of my favourite poets, Seamus Heaney's collection to give out in the hope that more people might start to enjoy poetry, especially if it is placed in their hands for free.

So, if you hear someone reciting on the back seat of the last bus home, it might be someone who finds themselves with a copy of this at the weekend.

 

 

 

 

• Also in May, it's our turn to nominate an orator for GENERAL INTEREST's lecture series at the SOUP KITCHEN on Spear Street, Manchester. General Interest is the radically-inclusive-community-art project of two of our favourite people in the history of the world and the brains, hands and eyes of the irrepressible  MUSEUMS PRESS,Jess Higgins and Matthew Walkerdine. We are working on something pretty special for this and will tell you more as it transpires. If you haven't got it yet we highly recommend you purchase their latest opus 'MUSEUMS THREE' which is comprised of 2 x newspapers, 1 x risograph print, 1 x photographic print and 2 x booklets one of which consists of three interviews (with Simon Joyner, Ethan Swan and David Bailey) conducted by one of us (R L Perry) via gmail chat.