When Jamie Byng Told Me About World Book Night, I Was Amazed Not Only by Its Magnitude

When Jamie Byng told me about World Book Night, I was amazed not only by its magnitude but by its simplicity. The love of writing, the love of reading – these are huge gifts. To be able give someone else a book you treasure widens the gift circle. I was thrilled to be asked to support World Book Night, and doubly thrilled that The Blind Assassin was chosen to help launch it. Long may its voyage be!

Margaret Atwood

No writer can ask more than this: that his book should be handed in thousands to people who might otherwise never get to read it, and who will in turn hand it to thousands more. That his book should also pass from one generation to another as a story to challenge and excite each reader in his time – that is beyond his most ambitious dreams.

John le Carré

World Book Night is a really extraordinary thing, an idea beautiful in its simplicity and wonderful in its implications: a national celebration of reading, of the sharing of books, literary passions and ideas. I'm absolutely delighted that Fingersmith is one of the selected novels.

Sarah Waters

To be given a book is like being given a ship: you become a Christopher Columbus and there's no saying what you'll find across the ocean. I'm delighted that Life of Pi is part of World Book Night. May all who receive the book reach safe harbour.

Yann Martel

I love this idea. There's something primeval about it: to think of my story being passed on from one person to another makes me feel a connection with the earliest storytellers in their caves, or crouching around a fire on the dark savannah. The relationship between the storyteller, the story, and the audience is an ancient one that long predates things like bestseller lists and royalty statements, or even money itself. It's really a form of enchantment. The gift idea is just as old and just as potent, and to see them combined in this brilliant and simple way is a delight. I'm very privileged to be part of it.

Philip Pullman

I am delighted to be part of World Book Night, an inspired idea which, like all the best ideas, is quite simple: let us gather one million books, get people who love them to give them away to a million people who might love them, who might give them away to other people who will perhaps love them. A problem shared is a problem halved: but a book loved and then shared and shared again is a book doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled…

Ben Macintyre

Reading is still alive – in better health than ever, actually – and World Book Night proves it. To be included as one of the 25 titles is a real thrill.

Lee Child