Monday is World Book Night: Free Books Given to Light or Non-Readers

To encourage people to read books, book lovers across the U.S. will be handing out copies of their favorites Monday as part of World Book Night, including 1,000 to be given away in Santa Cruz.

The books are supposed to go to people who don't read much with some encouragement from a book lover.

The promotion, sponsored by a group of book publishers, started in England in 2011 and is sweeping the world. April 23 is was already UNESCO's World Book Day, a celebration of the printed word and also the anniversary of Cervantes' death, as well as Shakespeare's birth and death.

The focus of World Book Night is on adult readers, according to the organizers. There are already plenty of promotions to encourage children to read, they said.

The books, 30 in all, include Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game; H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights; and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games; Stephen King's The Stand. Here's the complete list.

All of the books are one-time-only editions, not for resale, and given free to the local distributors. Each distributor is given 20 books to pass out.

In Santa Cruz some of the people giving them away include all seven City Council members; 30 members of the writers' collective called Santa Cruz Writes; one surfer, who plans to give them away at Cowells, and more.

The locations include Beach Flats Community Center, Louden Nelson Community Center, nursing homes, the Santa Cruz County jail, parks, and on mass transit.

Although it's called Book Night, the books can be given out all day long.