New Delhi: The ‘World Book Day’ will be celebrated Thursday. However, the festivities that mark the day will be missing due to the outbreak of the pandemic coronavirus. It will be different, but then the day will certainly be observed.
Interactive sessions
Interactive sessions with authors will take place. Books launches will happen in digital and audio formats. Publishers will be bringing in many more innovations to mark ‘World Book Day’ amid lockdown.
‘HarperCollins India’ will have an Instagram Live jam with its authors. The day-long activity will feature live sessions on various topics including food, music, travel, poetry and nostalgia.
‘You Are All I Need’ competition
‘Penguin Random House India’ in February collaborated with ‘Romedy Now’ for a unique crowd-sourced anthology titled ‘You Are All I Need’. It was edited by Ravinder Singh. In this campaign, Singh offered tips on writing through a television campaign on ‘Romedy Now’. Story entries were received from over 1,500 persons. Now 25 stories have been shortlisted and they will be published as a compilation titled ‘You Are All I Need’. The cover of this anthology will be launched Thursday and the book will be released later in the year.
‘Penguin imprint Puffin’ will release Sudha Murty’s new offering ‘How the Onion Got It’s Layers’ in e-book and audiobook formats.
Interaction with popular authors
The HarperCollins event will be led by a host of popular authors like Ravinder Singh, Nikita Singh, Rana Safvi, Boria Majumdar and Aanchal Malhotra among others.
Shabnam Srivastava, deputy general manager (marketing) at HarperCollins India, said the idea is bring authors and audiences closer. She informed that the initiative will enable authors also to reach out to wider and newer audiences. These readers are increasingly looking out for interesting and digitally accessible, mobile content.
“The sessions will have authors talk on different relatable themes, drawn from their areas of expertise. It will enable the writers to interact with audiences,” said Srivastava.
The ‘Human Touch’
‘Hachette India’ said that to celebrate ‘World Book Day’, its author Mitch Albom will do a free serialisation called ‘Human Touch’. It is a story of hope in the time of the coronavirus.
‘Hachette India’ will also partner with bookstores like ‘Kitab Khana’ and ‘The Bookshop’ to host giveaways on social media. The company will play bookish games with readers online and talk with bloggers who will discuss about their favourite books.
Set in a small town in Michigan, the story of ‘Human Touch’ is very appealing. It follows the citizens of one street corner and their four homes, north, south, east and west.
‘Human Touch’ will be written one week at a time for approximately eight weeks. It will appear on the website of ‘Albom’, who has authored books like ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ and ‘The Five People You Meet In Heaven’.
Agencies