News
BBC reveals Year of Books
25 Jan 2011
At an event in central London last night the BBC announced its Year of Books 2011.
The broadcaster revealed that the live, late Friday night show "Newsnight Review" is to devote one programme a month entirely to coverage of books and authors. The strand will begin in the late summer.
It also divulged more details on the Anne Robinson-fronted daytime show "My Life in Books", which will run for two weeks leading up to World Book Night, with two celebrities discussing the books which have affected them each day. BBC Radio 3 will run a week of "The Essay" on "The Book that Changed Me", starting with journalist Alan Johnston on George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.
BBC2's night of programming on World Book Night on 5 March will include three "Culture Show" specials: one will focus on the scheme, while a second "New Novelists: Twelve of the Best" will concentrate on a dozen debut authors, as-yet unnamed. The final show will be a special on "the books we really read" fronted by comedian Sue Perkins, featuring Agatha Christie, Dick and Felix Francis, Lee Child and Anthony Horowitz.
World Book Night will also be accompanied by programming on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 7 and online, including a selection of interviews with 25 of the World Book Night authors.
Read more on the BBC
Read more at The Bookseller
