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World Book Day is doubling the number of locations it visits with the Biggest Book Tour On Earth tour, going to 10 towns and cities in 2015 compared to five this year.
For the 2015 tour, 40 authors and illustrators and will visit Norwich, Nottingham, Rhyl, Bath, Dudley, Glasgow, London, Dublin, Preston and Newcastle, hoping to reach out to 14,000 children.
“World Book Day’s ultimate mission is to encourage a love of reading in all children, and by doubling our tour stops we’ve made a major step forwards achieving this ambition… I hope that enjoying performances by so many brilliant authors will inspire children to see the endless possibilities and fun to be had between the covers of a book,” said World Book Day director Kirsten Grant.
The tour will be compered by Steven Butler (pictured), author of several Dennis the Menace books, including The Diary of Dennis the Menace: World Book Menace Day (Puffin), and will run from the 23rd February to the 6th March. The final stop will be Preston, where the audience will number 5,000.
Authors taking part include World Book Day 2015 authors Jonny Duddle, Chris Riddell, and Holly Smale, as well as David Almond, Cathy Cassidy, Steve Cole, Liz Pichon, Francesca Simon and Jacqueline Wilson. The official World Book Day illustrator Sophy Henn will also appear.
World Book Day is now coming into its 18th year. The 2014 event saw titles up 4% in the first WBD week against the same week in 2013, selling over 318,000 units, led by David Melling's Hello Hugless Douglas (Hodder) which sold 51,780 copies.
From early March 2015, children in the UK and Ireland will be given a £1 (€1.50 in Ireland) book token in their nurseries and schools which they can use to claim their World Book Day title in bookshops across the country from 2nd March 2015. There are a total of 10 books on the list for children in the UK (11 in Ireland), covering the age groups of 2+ all the way to teen.