News Archive

Give a Book Week, organised by the Welsh Books Council, is a week-long campaign held between 27 February and 6 March to encourage people from across Wales to give a book as a gift to family, friends and colleagues and share the gift of reading.

Give a Book Week is organised this year to celebrate and coincide with World Book Day 2010 which takes place on Thursday 4 March. The campaign highlights the importance of reading and the act of giving a book to each other to enable everyone to enjoy reading and hopefully improve literacy skills across the nation.

Education Minister Leighton Andrews said: "Give a Book Week is a fantastic example of our commitment to improving literacy levels across Wales as part of an annual programme of events and activities linked to our national reading campaign. It is essential that leading up to World Book Day and beyond people feel inspired to read and embrace the benefits that literacy brings. I am pleased to launch such an important campaign and I fully encourage the people of Wales to share the joy of reading."

Lucy Owen, the face of Give a Book Week 2010, commented: "It is a privilege to be part of the launch and to take part in such an important campaign. Reading is close to my heart and a necessary skill to have in everyday life, so it is vital that we spread the word and make reading fun."

Elwyn Jones, Director of the Welsh Books Council, said: "It is a wonderful campaign and the response from across Wales has been tremendous. Schools, organisations and individuals are holding their own events to celebrate Give a Book Week."

The launch on Wednesday 24 February signaled the start of the campaign, which will climax during the week of 27 February to 6 March, with numerous events being organised across Wales.

Already joining the line-up of book givers are Rhodri Owen, Caryl Parry Jones, Tim Rhys Jones, Iwan John, Tudur Owen, Eleri Sion, Dafydd Du and even characters from S4C’s pre-school channel, CYW, who will shortly be sharing their favourite books with each other on air.

Give a Book Week 2010 will take place from Saturday 27 February to Saturday 6 March, incorporating World Book Day, which will be held on Thursday 4 March.

Click here for more information.