One Million Books for Millions of people.

I awoke at three am as today. The Butterflies settled in my stomach and I realised it was ridiculous to be awake at this time so forced myself back to sleep and woke again at seven. Staring into the computer for the next two hours I pored over my preferred list of book titles. Are these really my favourites? At nine am my finger hovered above the send button and dived.

On the other side of the world approximately thirty writers broadcasters and publishers meet upstairs in Foyles on Charing Cross on a dark wintry morning. All with their twenty five titles chosen from the same list chaired by James Naughtie for the next few hours they debate and finally arrive at the list of all lists. I would have been there had I not been here in South Africa.

The decision has been made and I hear the meeting was skillfully chaired. These twenty five or so books are the chosen ones for World Book Night where one million of them will be given away by the people to the people. And that is the next phase of the project: to find the book givers. I would have hijacked a plane to be there. I am one of the trustees of this most incredible endeavour lead by publisher, magic maker and master of ceremony Jamie Byng.


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