Book Week Scotland & The League of Extraordinary Book Lovers

Yesterday morning I attended the launch of Book Week Scotland which was announced by Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish Culture Secretary.

I had the unexpected pleasure of seeing Miriam from the Istanbul Review dressed up as a member of the ‘League of Extraordinary Book Lovers’ (see below pic).  The League consists of members of all ages, from 5 to 75, who will appear in a puff of smoke on street corners handing out book recommendations during Book Week Scotland.

I quite liked the TV advert for Book Week Scotland which features locations in Scotland but with signposts for a number of well known fictional locations. The advert asks ‘Where Will You Go?’.

I for one can certainly recommend fictional worlds as an alternative to an expensive foreign holiday, it is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly and you don’t have to pay ridiculous roaming charges to get a 3G signal.

I even got given a ‘Krypton’ sticker perhaps due to my uncanny resemblance to Clark Kent (well, I wear glasses). Another thing I have in common with Clark is that he is apparently now a blogger. Yes, it’s being reported that he’s left the Daily Planet to start a blog, because DC Comics are keen to represent the real world in their latest storylines.

I hope they explain how he actually makes a decent living blogging, which has so far escaped me. But then he is Superman so he can probably type faster than me.

The Details

The event takes place between 26th November and 2nd December and is organised by the Scottish Book Trust who have made sure there are loads of ways to get involved.

They’re giving away free picture books to all Primary 1 schoolchildren in Scotland, and 150,000 copies of the book ‘My Favourite Place’ which is a collection of stories and poems written by Scottish people.

As well as contributions from some famous names, including Michael Palin and Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat (I wonder if it’s toned down from his usual work), many of the entries are the winners of over 1,000 entries to a creative writing competition on BBC Radio Scotland. You can read all the entries here.

Physical copies of the book will be distributed widely, including at Specsavers shops (!) and MSP offices across the country, and there will also be a free ebook and audio book. There’s also a national Reading Hour on St Andrew’s Day where people are encouraged to go to the library to show their support for reading.

For more info see the Scottish Book Trust website.

 Update: Let me know in the comments ‘where you will go’ for Scottish Book Week (thanks to Pauline from SBT for asking first!)