London Evening Standard and NOOK® Announce West End Shows to Feature in Unique One-Day Read-A-Thon i
London Evening Standard and NOOK®Announce West End Shows to Feature in Unique One-Day Read-A-Thon in Trafalgar Square This Summer
Get ReadingFestival on Saturday 13th July Will be Free to the Public and Feature Rupert Everett Reading Oscar Wilde, Billy Elliot the Musical, theCurious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and 'Joey' from War Horse, Plus Famous Authors, Celebrity Storytellers and Interactive Activities for the Whole Family
London Evening Standard and NOOK Build on Literacy Initiative to Make Reading More Accessible for Children across the UK
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- London Evening Standard and NOOK have today announced the first of the exciting theatrical elements that will be included in the free literary Get Reading festival for children, which is part of the London Evening Standard and NOOK's pioneering partnership to support child literacy.
Niamh Cusack, star of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, reads to pupils from St Gabriel's School in Westminster on NOOK® devices at the Apollo Theatre in London. NOOK and the Evening Standard today announced that the Get Reading free festival, which will take place in the iconic Trafalgar Square on Saturday 13th July, will feature Rupert Everett, the cast of Billy Elliot The Musical, a reading from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and 'Joey' from War Horse. (Photo: Business Wire)
Today it was announced that the free festival, which will take place in the iconic Trafalgar Square on Saturday 13th July, will feature Rupert Everett reading an Oscar Wilde fairy tale, Billy ElliotThe Musical performing 'Electricity', a reading from Mark Haddon's book TheCurious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and an appearance from 'Joey', the star of the National Theatre's West End production of War Horse, based on Michael Morpurgo's much loved children's book. The event will also feature famous authors and celebrity storytellers helping children to take part in a giant read-a-thon. The free event is for the whole family and is open to anyone from London and across the UK.
Niamh Cusack, who plays Christopher's teacher Siobhan in the National Theatre's award-winning production of TheCurious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, gave her backing to the event today with a special reading at the Apollo Theatre in front of a mesmerised group of schoolchildren from St Gabriel's primary school in Pimlico.
Niamh read from one of Barnes & Noble's award-winning NOOK tablets. Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller, has partnered with the Evening Standard and the Get Reading campaign to help advance the cause of literacy and enrich reading for all ages across the UK.
The London Evening Standard's Get London Reading campaign is designed to help struggling readers to catch up with their peers and to maximise the opportunities that reading brings. Launched in June 2011, Get London Reading has raised £1 million, including a £500,000 investment from the Mayor's Fund for London, to fund the training and supply of reading helpers into schools in association with campaign partner Beanstalk. The campaign has already helped over 2,000 London children improve their reading and has also seen hundreds of London Evening Standard readers volunteer their time to go into schools each week to help children with their reading.
Niamh Cusack, who plays Christopher's teacher Siobhan in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, said: "Every child has the right to basic reading skills and the Get Reading event is a fabulous way to highlight the fact that not all children are leaving school with these basic needs. I am so happy to support this campaign and I'm sure it will have a significant impact on children's lives."
Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliot The Musical said: "I have huge admiration for what this campaign is trying to achieve for children's literacy. Reading is absolutely key to helping children achieve their potential and am delighted to be able to add my support to such an important cause."
Jim Hilt,Managing Director, Barnes & Noble, said: "Barnes & Noble is committed to making reading more accessible and fun for kids in the UK and partnering with top West End shows is a great way to encourage literacy in children. Bringing this kind of timeless entertainment to children and families at the Get Reading festival in July will help introduce a lifelong love of reading and an appreciation for great theatre in children of all ages. To further that goal, Barnes & Noble is giving away free classic children's eBooks, including The Wind in the Willows, Great Expectations and The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, with the purchase of any new NOOK device or download of the free NOOK Reading App."
Further information and details on the line-up will be revealed soon.
Notes to editors
About London Evening Standard
The London Evening Standard is London's only free quality evening title and distributes nearly 700,000 copies a day - reaching out to more than 1.6 million Londoners. It was bought by Evgeny Lebedev in January 2009 and is edited by Sarah Sands.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYS: BKS) is a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The company operates 677 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). Its NOOK Media LLC subsidiary is a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. The NOOK digital business offers award-winning NOOK® products and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store™ (www.nook.com), while Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC operates 678 bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
NOOK®, NOOK Store™, NOOK Video™, NOOK Video Apps™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.
Follow Barnes & Noble on Twitter (www.bn.com/twitter), Facebook (www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/barnesandnoble).
About NOOK Media LLC
NOOK reading and entertainment products make it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to the expansive NOOK Store™ of more than 3 million digital books, plus periodicals, comics, apps, movies and TV shows, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through free NOOK Reading Apps™ and NOOK Video apps, available at www.nook.com/freenookapps. NOOK owners receive Always Free NOOK Support in any of Barnes & Noble's nearly 700 bookstores. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.nook.com, as well as leading retailers including Best Buy, Walmart, Target and many others. NOOK products are available in the United Kingdom through www.nook.co.uk and leading retailers.
For more information on NOOK, follow us on www.twitter.com/nookBN or www.twitter.com/nook_UK and www.facebook.com/nook or www.facebook.com/nookGB.
For further information on the artists / productions involved:
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130606005594/en/
Charlotte Wood, 07545 879 658
charlotte@wcommunications.co.uk
KEYWORDS: United Kingdom United States Europe North America New York Ireland
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