It's World Book Day!

March 2023
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Rionagh and Svilvia, pupils at North Bay Educate Together National School, pictured with World Book Day titles Rita agus an Dragún and One Stormy Night
Rionagh and Svilvia, pupils of North Bay Educate Together, pictured with World Book Day titles to mark World Book Day 2023.

A thrilling Irish-language story of one girl and her dragon, a stormy night on Hazel Tree Farm and a new bookshop adventure with the ever-popular Dave Pigeon – these are just some of the fourteen titles available to young readers this World Book Day, free in exchange for their World Book Day token.

This World Book Day, we've teamed up with Foras na Gaeilge, An Post and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) in a joint effort to give every child access to brilliant stories.

To mark the day, live school events with the Irish World Book Day authors and illustrators will be taking place in Windmill Lane, Dublin 2, with thousands of students tuning in nationwide via a livestream thanks to the support of Creative Ireland, Dublin City Council and Windmill Lane Studios.

Thanks to support from National Council for the Blind of Ireland, all Irish World Book Day €1.50/£1 titles are now available in Braille, audio and digital formats, ensuring that children with vision impairments and reading difficulties can join the celebrations along with their peers.

An Post postwoman Alanna Lawloe with Nevaeh Tobin, pupil of North Bay Educate Together, pictured with World Book Day titles for World Book Day 2023.
An Post postwoman Alanna Lawloe with Nevaeh Tobin, pupil of North Bay Educate Together, pictured with World Book Day titles for World Book Day 2023.

World Book Day works closely with partners including booksellers across Ireland and the UK, over 35 publishers, Children’s Books Ireland, Foras na Gaeilge, BookTrust, National Literacy Trust, Publishers Association, Booksellers Association and Libraries Connected.

Together, they aim to improve access and gift books to more isolated communities through a wide-reaching book-gifting programme.

An Post will cover the cost of delivering 14,000 World Book Day books to children in Irish hospitals, direct provision centres, homelessness services and Travelling communities, reaching young readers in time for World Book Day.

‘World Book Day’s mission to change lives through a love of books and reading couldn’t align more closely with our own here at Children’s Books Ireland. We want to see an Ireland in which every child is a reader, where every young person can experience the life-changing benefits that reading for fun can bring. We’re delighted to work with such brilliant partners to bring forward that vision this World Book Day, and can’t wait to see which of the fantastic World Book Day titles young readers in Ireland choose.’ – Elaina Ryan, CEO of Children's Books Ireland

For more information on World Book Day titles, events and resources, visit worldbookday.com.

To access World Book Day titles through the NCBI Library Access Services, contact library@ncbi.ie.