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LOGOS 15.4 crc 1/14/05 8:17 AM Page 212 LOGOS What a difference a day makes: A British initiative links commerce and culture Alexis Weedon For the past few years all over Britain on a Thursday in March you could have seen children going to school dressed as Hedwig, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland or Peter Rabbit. Others were engaged in readathons, entering competitions for short stories, writing poetry and putting up websites. Wander into a bookshop on that day and you might catch Jacqueline Wilson, Eoin Colfer or After working in educational other well-known children’s authors signing books. publishing, Dr Alexis Weedon Turn on local radio and you’d be likely to hear the same authors. Open a newspaper and you would took a research fellowship at the see adverts of celebrities “getting caught reading” Open University on The History and news stories urging you to unplug the play of the Book in Britain. She is station, go to the library and persuade Dad to read today principal lecturer at the to the kids at bedtime. It’s World Book Day, British style. University of Luton, teaching Schools think it’s a good thing. So do most publishing and new media. She parents, who find themselves making costumes, has co-edited the academic sponsoring reading and retelling much-loved journal Convergence: The stories. It combines fun and education. Few people in the media admit to more than Journal of Research into New “a feeling” that books are a good thing. Even if it is Media Technologies for the past only a feeling, it is shared by eighty or so countries nine years and has recently which have adopted the idea of World Book Day, published Victorian Publishing: each executing it in its own way. The Economics of Book In 1996, UNESCO designated an annual World Book and Copyright Day, the objectives of Production for the Mass Market which were embodied in lofty style by Koïchiro 1836-1916 (Ashgate, 2003). Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO in 2000: Email: [email protected] “In this era of globalization, books are an ally for cultural and linguistic diversity, for access to all learning and for freedom and peace ... “Books are an invaluable life-long companion. In societies founded on writing as well as those which draw their origin from oral traditions but later discov- ered writing, the act of writing is cherished as the guardian of heritage and the expression of new creativity. It is the key to progress in basic education, the fight against poverty and new advances in commu- nication and information technologies. 212 LOGOS 15/4 © WHURR PUBLISHERS 2004 LOGOS 15.4 crc 1/14/05 8:17 AM Page 213 What a difference a day makes “Because they serve in diverse ways to promote development, books are a tool for progress. Because they are foremost the expression of one’s thoughts, an expression of being, books help humanize our world.” This statement makes no reference to the selling of books. Under UNESCO’s list of initia- tives, publishers are encouraged to donate unsold stock to libraries, librarians to market their services and even take a political role in the discussion of book provision, and the “mass media” to instigate discussion on censorship, piracy, copyright, aid and development as well as less controversial topics such as literary and artistic heritage, authorship, literacy, education, and, of course, the future of libraries and the printed word. In Britain, which was not a member of UNESCO in 1996, the initiative for World Book Day came from the book trade. How it has been done reveals at least some of our implicit cultural assumptions about the book. * * * * * The beginning in Britain can be traced to a cele- bration by one bookshop. Then the new Labour Posters from the Get Caught Reading Campaign Government designated 1998 a “Year of Reading” to highlight its commitment to literacy in educa- voucher which could be exchanged in bookshops tion. Kate Bostock, author of World Book Day in either for the World Book Day book or as part the UK and Ireland (London Bookseller Publica- payment for another book. Thirteen and a half tions, 2000) records that “Gale Rebuck, UK Presi- million vouchers were distributed by the Depart- dent of Random House, saw this as an opportunity ment of Education. At least 1.5 million were for the book trade to work with the government ... redeemed in the two weeks during which the with a scheme that would get a book into the vouchers were valid. By 2003 this had risen to hands of every child in the UK, even the poorest between 2.7 and 3 million. Bookshops bore the households”. A committee was formed, chaired by expense of the £1 off. Rebuck on behalf of the Publishers’ Association In 1999 the target audience was enlarged to and Willie Anderson, then chair of the Book- encompass adults. Some vouchers were published sellers’ Association. Sue Horner, a government through newspapers with the sponsorship of News advisor on curriculum standards in English in International and in Ireland by the Irish Indepen- schools, was recruited as coordinator. dent Group. In 2000, Book Tokens Limited, a The first national celebration of “The Day” in book gift voucher scheme run since the 1930s by Britain was on April 23, 1998. It took the form of the Booksellers’ Association, was added to the list two complementary campaigns, one to produce of sponsors, and the vouchers now bear its logo. and distribute free to bookshops one million copies The evaluation of World Book Day in Britain of the World Book Day book – Children’s Book of in 2002 reported that sales were “above average for Books – a selection of extracts from children’s the five-year campaign as a whole”, though down books chosen by celebrities as their favourite slightly on 2001. The Bookseller reported that the childhood reading. The other campaign offered to two-week redemption period for book vouchers every school child from four to eighteen a £1 was a peak in sales by volume. All five World 213 LOGOS 15/4 © WHURR PUBLISHERS 2004.

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