UK book industry launches Buy Books for Syria campaign

Waterstones and the UK book industry are launching the Buy Books for Syria campaign, with the aim of raising £1 million (A$2.2 million) for Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal, reports the Bookseller. Major UK publishers, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Pan Macmillan, Scholastic and a large number of independents, are donating 1000 to 2000 copies each of titles from their front- and backlists to be stickered with ‘Buy Books for Syria’ labels in Waterstones’ 280 stores, with the entire retail price going towards Oxfam. Beginning 1 October, the campaign includes titles from big name authors such as David Walliams, Neil Gaiman, Bill Bryson, Hilary Mantel, Stieg Larsson, Philip Pullman and many others. The fundraising idea was originally conceived by Profile editor Mark Ellingham and Waterstones MD James Daunt. Oxfam CEO Mark Goldring said the £1 million raised would allow for the delivery of clean water to ‘another 150,000 people in Syria or support to tens of thousands of people in Jordan over the next year’. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, author Patrick Ness, with the support of other authors, raised over £600,000 ($A1,306,000) for charity Save the Children’s refugee appeal.

Category: International news