Fans book a place to meet heroes


But this Wednesday will see thousands of children dress as their favourite storybook character as they troop off to school, while authors and illustrators will be corralled into bookshop corners and school libraries to give readings and sign copies of their latest stories, as World Book Day comes around again.
Being a UNESCO literary city, Edinburgh is never short of an author or two. They either live here – JK Rowling, Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith to name a few – or they arrive every summer for the Edinburgh International Book Festival. And given the wide range of book stores in town – even if some still mourn the passing of retailer James Thin – there’s always an author on hand to plug their latest tome.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdOf course if the writer is also a celebrity it always helps attract a big crowd. From The Goodies to David Jacobs, Pat Phoenix to George Best, Michael Palin to David Attenborough, the allure of an author with a TV career can’t be beaten as the queues for their flyleaf autographs show in these pictures.


Of course the main aim of World Book Day is to get kids reading, hooking them in at an early age which should mean they keep up the habit for life. As part of the event National Book Tokens, publishers and booksellers distribute more than 14 million £1 book tokens so children can either buy a title from a specific range for a pound, or get the same knocked off the price of any other book. Let’s hope it works, otherwise future authors are going to have a hard time signing a Kindle.