Record ‘Giver’ sign up for World Book Night 2013 as Yodel prepares to ‘deliver the goods’
Giver applications for World Book Night 2013 have hit an all-time high, with 23,655 people volunteering to be part of the nationwide event on April 23rd.
20,000 people have now been chosen to act as reading advocates, helping to get books to those who don't regularly read or don't have access to books, and encourage a lifelong love of reading.
46% of Givers have participated in previous World Book Nights while 54% have never applied before.
Givers hail from all corners of the country, from the Channel and Scilly Isles to the Outer Hebrides. Locations with the highest concentration of givers include Newcastle, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
World Book Night partner Yodel, the award-winning parcel delivery service, will distribute 400,000 books to Giver collection points and deliver 100,000 more books directly to hospitals, prisons, literacy teachers, care-homes and volunteers in remote areas in an effort to inject books into some of the UK's the hardest to reach communities.
Neil Lloyd, CEO, Yodel commented; "Yodel makes nearly 3.5 million book deliveries each year across the UK, both to independent booksellers and retail chains as well as direct to consumers.
"We are delighted to be playing a role in this year's World Book Night, helping more people to discover the joy of reading." World Book Night CEO Julia Kingsford said: "World Book Night is all about making connections - between authors and readers, between readers and emerging readers, between bookshops, libraries and the communities they share and between everyone with great books and stories.
"Doing any of this would be impossible without our distribution partner, Yodel, who take the half a million books we produce and distribute them to 2655 bookshops and libraries across the country, ready for our 20,000 givers to pass on even further. Working with them, and discovering they care as much about literacy, books and reading as we do, has been a joy."
For the first time this year there has been a special application strand for institutions, which has seen 2,592 apply to get books to the hardest to reach sections of society, including 90% of the prison network.
2,655 libraries and bookshops have also signed up as collection points - the vital community reading hubs where Givers collect 'the goods' from. Libraries and bookshops across the country are also now gearing up to host World Book Night events.
Yodel is the UK's leading parcel delivery company, delivering over 150 million parcels per year on behalf of the majority of the UK's top retailers including a number of book trade clients. 75% of its deliveries are direct to consumers, while the remaining 25% are to businesses and into stores.
From the smallest of rural towns to the largest cities, Yodel reaches local communities every day of the week and is ideally placed to deliver World Book Night parcels across the UK, with reduced environmental impact key to its approach.
World Book Night's flagship event will take place on 23rd April in Liverpool, which is also home to Yodel's main office.