Ministry of Culture to distribute 100,000 free books next April

Giveaway is part of the Denmark Reads-Day campaign held on 23 April 2014

Nov 10, 2014

The Cultural Ministry will hand out 100,000 free books on April 23 next year to mark World Book Day.

The day – which is Shakespeare's birthday – is observed globally, and Denmark too will take part with its own campaign, 'Denmark Reads Day', in which 20,000 free copies of five different books will be distributed all over the country.

The aim of the campaign is to get more Danes into the habit of reading and having great reading experiences.

"When we delve into a book, we meet people living a life different from our own," commented the minister of culture, Marianne Jelved

"We get insight into other people's experiences, opinions, feelings and cultures. Works of fiction strengthen our togetherness by giving us a greater understanding of the world, ourselves and each other."

Book distributors wanted
Up to 4,000 members of the public will be recruited to ensure the campaign reaches its aim. The book-loving Danes will each distribute 25 books to people within their spheres of influence who rarely read works of fiction.

All the Danish publishing houses have been asked to send in their suggestions for the lucky five works, after which an impartial panel will subsequently select the titles.

And more than 350 libraries and bookshops have volunteered to become book pick-up points and help recruit the 4,000 'distributors'.

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