Penguin Random House | London, 03/01/2018

World Book Day: 500 Storytelling Sessions across London

Subject: Society
Country: Great Britain
Category: Project

Today, the UK is celebrating World Book Day,  honoring books and reading. Penguin Random House UK is right in the midst of events: over 6,000 books will be given away, and thousands of special editions will be sold at stores for a symbolic price of £1. More than 500 employees from the publishing group will volunteer to visit schools, libraries and children’s center across London to bring to life the magic of reading and books with children and young adults.

UNESCO decided to organize World Book Day on 23 April, William Shakespeare’s date of death, and has been celebrating it around the world for 23 years now. But the clocks are ticking differently in England: the British are ahead of the rest of the world and traditionally honor books and reading with their World Book Day today, March 1. Naturally, Penguin Random House UK, the country’s largest publishing group, is right in the midst of events. As part of the single largest volunteer effort in the history of the publishing group, over 6,000 books will be given away to children in local communities today. And that’s just the beginning.

To celebrate World Book Day, more than 500 employees from the publishing group have volunteered to visit over 130 schools, libraries and children’s centers across London. Through interactive storytelling sessions with children and young adults, they aim to bring to life the magic of reading and books. Ensuring to spread the campaign beyond the capital and head offices of Penguin Random House UK, employees in other sites across the country – in Frating, Rugby, Manningtree, Grantham and Rushden – will join in and also donate books to children.

Penguin Random House also uses its website and social media channels to spread the campaign. Users can follow the activities of the publisher and employees live throughout the day.

Over the past 20 years since its launch in the UK, 290 million books have been distributed to children and young adults across the country for the symbolic price of £1 in all of the country’s regions. This year, too, thousands of books will be distributed. Two Penguin Random House authors, Clare Balding with “The Girl Who Thought She Was A Dog” and Tom Fletcher with “Brain Freeze”, are among the ten authors chosen for the campaign.