Thursday, October 10, 2013



Book your Place at Scotland’s Reading Celebration

Book Week Scotland 2013 Programme Announced

The full programme for Scotland’s second national celebration of books and reading has been announced.
 
Building on the success of last year’s inaugural Book Week Scotland, Scottish Book Trust will deliver a week-long nationwide focus on books, reading and writing from 25 November to 1 December, 2013.

A diverse programme of book-related events will be held across the country, with an emphasis on celebrating whatever you enjoy reading, be it a book, comic, blog or newspaper. Many of the events will be hosted by some of Scotland’s best-loved authors, with highlights of the week including:
  • Three free picture books gifted to every Primary 1 pupil in Scotland. The titles consist of the shortlist for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2013: Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb, What's the Time Mr Wolf by Debi Gliori and Jumblebum by Chae Strathie and Ben Cort.
  • Over 400 book-related events in 349 different locations including pop-up book shops, an all night pyjama party in an art gallery, events in libraries and underground book mic nights in a nightclub.
  • 150,000 free copies of Treasures, a short story and poem collection written by the people of Scotland, will be distributed through many channels including bookshops, libraries,VisitScotland visitor centres and the Royal Voluntary Service network. Well known contributors include John and Carole Barrowman, Mairi Hedderwick and Denise Mina.
  • The Ten Favourite Scottish Books will be announced at the end of Book Week Scotland.
  • Scottish children’s illustrator and author Mairi Hedderwick will bring her most famous character, Katie Morag, to life for children across Scotland during a special live broadcast in partnership with the BBC on 28 November.
  • Individuals, communities and organisations across Scotland will be encouraged to host a Big Book Bash to celebrate reading during Book Week Scotland. You can download an information pack from www.bookweekscotland.com.
  • Think you know Scotland’s most inspiring reader, or most committed fan? Perhaps you know someone who likes to read in an unusual place? Nominate them at www.bookweekscotland.com to be a national Reading Hero.
  • Five large art installations will be unveiled in communities across Scotland to inspire reading.
The names of this year’s Book Week Scotland Author Ambassadors were also unveiled: Children’s author and illustrator Nick Sharratt, popular fiction author Shari Low and poet Ryan Van Winkle will lead the push to spread the joy of reading throughout the country.

Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, said:

“The first Book Week Scotland in 2012 was a great success with over 20,000 people attending events across Scotland. This year’s programme provides even more exciting events for children and adults to celebrate the wonder of the written word.

“Scotland has a strong literary canon and Book Week offers a great opportunity for everyone to celebrate our word-class wealth of talent, creativity and imagination.

“No matter what age, no matter what walk of life we come from, it’s never too early or too late to find the time to read and to discover whole new worlds outside our own.”

Marc Lambert, Chief Executive of Scottish Book Trust, said:

“Book Week Scotland is a celebration of our love affair with books, and of the power of reading and writing, surely humankind’s greatest cultural invention. We want to involve all Scots in a national conversation about what they like to read, and why. Whether it’s escaping for a few hours into fictional worlds, enjoying precious time with your children as you read a bedtime story, fact finding for homework, cooking up a storm in the kitchen, or finding out more about your sporting hero, books enrich all aspects of our lives and hold open the door to a million different possibilities.”

Aly Barr, Development Officer, Creative Scotland, said:
“Book Week Scotland is one of the most anticipated sequels of 2013. The programme is itself a treasure trove of events for children just starting to learn about the wonders to be discovered between the covers of a book, for people for whom books are one of the joys of life, for book lovers in every part of Scotland. I can't wait."

Moira Methven, interim CEO, Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) said:
"We are really excited to be supporting Book Week Scotland this year. It's great that local libraries are going to be venues for lots of events, with over 100 authors visiting libraries for 'Book Week Scotland in Libraries', where you will get to meet authors and listen to unique readings.

"We're also looking forward to seeing lots of fun Big Book Bashes taking place in libraries across the country and don't forget to pop into your local library during the week to pick up your free copy of 'Treasures'.
"Before you vote for your favourite Scottish book, why not discover more about it by logging onto askscotland.org.uk
and one of our librarians will answer your question."

Initiated by the Scottish Government and supported, along with a Readers in Residence programme in libraries, by £250,000 from Creative Scotland, Book Week Scotland will be delivered by Scottish Book Trust. Book Week Scotland in libraries is funded by The Scottish Library and Information Council.

Photographs from this morning’s announcement are available on request from helen.croney@scottishbooktrust.com.
Audio clips from key spokespeople including Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, and Actor and Presenter John Barrowman are available at http://audioboo.fm/ on the Scottish Book Trust Audioboo page.

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