Morpurgo, Shireen and more to take part in #PassThePen campaign as part of World Book Day

World Book Day has unveiled an extensive collection of events, activities and partnerships as part of its annual celebration, taking place on 2nd March 2023.

The #PassThePen campaign, in partnership with BookTrust, will see World Book Day 2023 authors paired with up-and-coming writers and illustrators from a diverse range of backgrounds. 

It will see the likes of Michael Morpurgo, Nadia Shireen and more hand over the reins of their social media accounts to some rising stars in children’s literature, the organisers say.

A Live Lesson for seven to 11-year-olds will be shown live on CBBC and the BBC Teach website on World Book Day at 11 a.m., while Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre will host Bradford Literature Festival’s World Book Day Celebration. 

Free for schools to attend, the event has morning and afternoon sessions featuring the likes of MC Grammar, Sir Lenny Henry and Sophy Henn. Attendees will have the opportunity to swap a book voucher for a £1/€1.50 World Book Day book.

Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho will also host story time events for younger readers with some of the day’s chosen authors, which will be available to download during the week of World Book Day, and ahead of the day BookTrust will be distributing 82,000 £1/€1.50 World Book Day book tokens via its Bookstart co-ordinators in addition to distributing 2,000 books.

Scottish Book Trust will also be ensuring 3,000 picture books reach families directly through its Bookbug for the Home programme. The Explorer Resource Packs will also include digital World Book Day tokens providing access to books for more than 3,000 early years settings in Scotland.

During World Book Day week, AM Dassu, author of Boot It! (Old Barn Books), will visit Peterborough Football Club and speak about her book’s theme of racism in sport to 80 KS3 children. Sir Lenny Henry will visit his hometown of Dudley and read extracts from The Boy with Wings: Attack of the Rampaging Robot (Macmillan Children’s Books) to 600 children from local schools. Tom Percival will also attend an event in Swindon and read from his book, Billy’s Bravery (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) to primary years.

There will also be a number of online events and the National Literacy Trust’s 15 Hub Areas in England will be working alongside local libraries and retailers to distribute 11,500 £1/€1.50 books to children and create other events with local communities, as well as two digital events to encourage more families to read.

Over 4,000 booksellers are expected to take part in World Book Day 2023, hosting events and activities and over 400 independent bookshops and retailers across the UK and Ireland including The Works, W H Smith, Waterstones, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda will be gifting the £1/€1.50 books.

Yoto has been named World Book Day’s Official Audio Partner in 2023, providing free audio content on the Yoto App for children to enjoy.

There will also be a range of support from a huge number of partners in 2023 including long-term partner The Roald Dahl Story Company, Rubies and McDonald’s, with more to be announced nearer the day. Alongside this, competitions, promotions and content spreads will run throughout the campaign period enabling children to enjoy World Book Day content across over 30 children’s magazine titles. A full list of the World Book Day books chosen for 2023 can be found here. 

Last month The Bookseller reported booksellers and librarians are vowing to continue with World Book Day plans despite proposed school closures on 2nd March resulting from teacher strikes.