TODAY, April 23, is Shakespeare’s birthday – and World Book Night when, across the country, people hand out free books to encourage adult lapsed readers to remember the pleasure of getting lost in a good book. 

Sarah Kingsford will be in the Valiant Soldier in Roadwater from 7pm this evening, giving away a large quantity of books, both fiction and non-fiction, in proof form. 

“I get a lot of proofs for work and it breaks my heart to throw them away when some are fantastic reads. So World Book Night, the event that honours the physical book, is the time to give them away,” she said.

“A proof is produced by the publishers so last-minute corrections can be made and so they have something to send out to reviewers, which is what I am. 

“They do not print many so, if an author becomes very famous, then their proofs can be worth a lot of money. I am not allowed to sell them – but I can give them away!”