The Birmingham Public Library Will Help Spread the Love of Reading to Half a Million People on World Book Night, April 23, 2014

The Birmingham Public Library will be one of 2,300 libraries and bookstores across the nation to distribute free books on Wednesday, April 23, as part of World Book Night 2014. The effort is designed to spread the joy of reading by giving paperback books to light readers or nonreaders.

Organizers are predicting that more than half a million books in nearly 6,000 cities across America will be distributed on World Book Night, which just happens to fall on William Shakespeare’s birthday this year. This is the third year for the campaign in the United States. It started in the United Kingdom in 2011. The Birmingham Public Library is one of three World Book Night distributors in Birmingham.

Forty-seven Birmingham Public Library employees and volunteers have signed up to be book givers at Birmingham-area parks hospitals, nursing homes, and more on April 23. Each volunteer will give out 20 books. Even though it’s called World Book Night, book distributions will happen throughout the day.

“We look forward to meeting new people throughout the community, giving them a book, and inviting them to the Birmingham Public Library,’’ says Janine Langston, a library employee and a World Book Night coordinator in Birmingham. “We are a part of a big party that’s celebrating books.’’

Volunteers could select from more than 30 titles, which include award-winning and bestselling adult and young adult books, as well as the classics. Some of this year’s titles include New York Times Bestselling Author Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale; Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral; and Cheryl Strayed’s New York Times Bestseller Wild, which will soon be made into a major motion picture with actress Reese Witherspoon.

For more information, visit www.us.worldbooknight.org. The Twitter hashtag is #WBN2014.