Patterson launches ‘Save Our Books’ campaign

In the US, author James Patterson has launched a new campaign called ‘Save Our Books’ to increase support early childhood education and generate more funding for public libraries and librarians, reports Shelf Awareness. A key part of the campaign is a 30-second video of books burning, which Patterson will promote widely. ‘The film is very visual and will disturb a few people, but that’s good,’ said Patterson. The author is asking people to esign letters to congressmen and petitions to increase funding for public libraries, and has invited President Obama to take ‘a pledge to make reading a national priority’ and to ‘appear in public with a book in his hands’ once a month to emphasise ‘the critical importance of reading’. The campaign will use the hashtag #SaveOurBooks. Patterson has already pledged £250k (A$460,425) to UK independent booksellers and US$1 million (A$1.17 million) to US independent bookstores.

Category: International news