World Book Night U.S. Announces Schedule for 2014

Book nomination process opens

On Tuesday, July 16, World Book Night U.S. opened the book nomination process and announced key dates in the run up to the third annual giveaway of thousands of special edition books on April 23, 2014. The submission of title nominations by givers as well as by booksellers and librarians who participated in WBN 2013 began via an e-mail survey.

The final list of 2014 WBN titles will be chosen by a panel of booksellers and librarians from a longlist that will include IndieBound picks; B&N Discover titles; American Library Association prize winners; top reading group choices, classics, and genre books gleaned from online sources; and the top giver suggestions.

On October 23, 2013, the final 2014 WBN title list will be announced and the giver application process will open.

The WBN Steering Committee will choose the event’s honorary co-chairs this summer, and bookstore and library host location sign-up will take place this fall.

The goal of WBN U.S. is to once again enlist 25,000 volunteer book givers to go out into their communities and personally hand out a half million specially printed copies to light or reluctant readers and to those without the means or access to printed books.

“We’ll opt for quality over quantity, as we did last year,” said World Book Night U.S. Executive Director Carl Lennetz. “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. We will double the number of WBN 2014 events to 50 or more, and we will add a digital component. We continue to be deeply thankful to all who have so generously volunteered their time, energy, and goodwill to the cause. I am very excited about the trajectory of World Book Night’s potential. Sky’s the limit!”

Ongoing WBN initiatives include continued outreach to prison programs, the cataloging of thousands of letters from book recipients, and sending this year’s BEA Book Buzz e-book to all the volunteer givers as a thank you.