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America wants to hold its own World Book Night following in the footsteps of the UK.
The American Booksellers Association said it is "exploring" the possibility of replicating "a version" of the event, which saw 20,000 people give away 1,000,000 books from 25 selected titles on 5th March this year. It is thought the US will hold the event on 23rd April 2012 along with the UK and other countries yet to confirm their collaboration.
Julia Kingsford, WBN c.e.o., said foreign involvement would encourage an international dialogue about books and help "close the gap" between different cultures and nationalities. She said: "America will be a wonderful partner to have and we are looking forward to the prospect of working with them and developing that partnership."
ABA c.e.o. Oren Teicher said adopting World Book Night for the US was one of a number of transatlantic projects increasing "co-operation" between the UK and American book industries.
The ABA is in the process of adopting the UK Bookseller Association's Batch payment programme and the BA is using the ABA's IndieBound initiative.
Teicher said: "We are convinced that booksellers from around the world have much to learn from one another . . . and [we are] also exploring whether we can replicate some version of your World Book Night on our side of the Atlantic."