As of July, 50 new benches have appeared on the streets of London.
The open ‘ pages ‘ represent a wide range of literary classics, from Clarice Bean to 1984, with the stories portrayed through colourful and detailed artwork. The National Literary Trust developed the Books about Town project to promote the joys of reading.
As well as being stand-alone works of art, tourists and Londoners alike can follow literary trails around the city, which will take them on a tour of the ‘BookBenches’.
These can be enjoyed around the city until 7th October, when the benches are to be auctioned off at the Southbank Centre. The money raised for the charity will go towards tackling illiteracy in deprived areas of the UK.
Too late for the paperback?
In 2012, Amazon revealed that its e-book sales had overtaken those of the printed book. But while there continues to be so many of us who just can’t resist curling up with a good book (an actual book) and a cup of tea, is the printed story in any real danger?
According to the National Literary Trust’s Children’s and Young People’s Reading report, which was put together in 2020, 57.3% of the 40,000 8-16-year-olds surveyed said they enjoyed reading “very much” or “quite a lot”. This percentage shows that enjoyment has increased, with the previous top figure being 51.4% in 2005. However, it is not clear whether a distinction was made between e-books and printed books.
Perhaps this distinction is irrelevant. If over half of today’s children and young people enjoy reading books in a world filled with technology and other distractions, this is surely nothing but a good thing.
The Books about Town project celebrates the country’s literary and artistic talent, promotes reading as a means of enjoyment, and eventually raises funds to help others learn the skills to do the same. Sounds pretty flawless to me!
If you’d like to browse through the various designs, visit the Books about Town website to see the location of each ‘BookBench’ on a map, or even to place an early bid!