Stage Set for World Book Night

With the April 23 celebration of World Book Night just days away, booksellers at stores from coast to coast are getting ready for giver parties, author events, and in-store performances. Twenty-four World Book Night kickoff author events are on the schedule, and many more celebrations have been planned by bookstores and libraries.

Eso Won Books in Los Angeles, California, will start World Book Night festivities today with an appearance by author Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale, New American Library), and Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, will host Cheryl Strayed (Wild, Vintage) on Monday. On Tuesday, Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire, Random House) will be appearing at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore in Berkeley, California; Vero Beach Book Center in Vero Beach, Florida, will welcome Carl Hiaasen (Hoot, Knopf); and authors Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ballantine) and Marie Semple (Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Back Bay Books) will join The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Washington.

April 23 was designated as the date to celebrate World Book Night because it is William Shakespeare’s birthday, and several stores around the country will be taking special note of that. Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky, is welcoming performers from Kentucky Shakespeare for an early celebration on April 22. Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, New York, will be hosting a party with Saratoga Shakespeare Company on April 23, with actors reading sonnets and customers enjoying refreshments and special copies of WBN-edition sonnets. Customers at Tales of the Lonesome Pine in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, will also be treated to Shakespeare performances from local schools and theater companies.

To help make World Book Night a success, booksellers can access downloadable templates, logos, and contest rules from the WBN Bookseller Resources page. Watch for World Book Night updates on Facebook and follow WBN happenings on Twitter and at #WBN2014.

Booksellers are also reminded to snap lots of photos and share their World Book Night stories with us at [email protected].