World Book Night Monday April 23rd

Last year Made in Newcastle were very proud to be a part of World Book Night. We had a fantastic day at our Grainger Street shop, with our makers creating items themed especially for the occasion. From bookmarks to canvas prints, we had a plethora off all things literary for our customers to enjoy. All washed down with tea and cake (from our good friends at Pet Lamb Patisserie) 

With tomorrow being World Book Night 2012, we thought we would show you just some of the things our makers have been creating on a literature theme.    

First up are two beautiful pieces for you and your home inspired by Alice in Wonderland from Nancy Pants.

Another piece taking inspiration both from Wonderland and the wider literary world, are these stunning necklaces by Gabby's Bazaar.

For all you budding authors out there, you never know when inspiration might strike you, so how about this gorgeous note book from Brittany Coxon.

Or if your more like me and can't remember anything unless it's on a list! Then brighten up your handbag with this great little notebook from Lucy's Happy Place. 

In need of a greeting card for a book worm friend or loved one? Then they will just adore this personalised vintage library card from The Spotted Sparrow.

All this talk of books has reminded me of two brilliant little projects that I really want to share with you. In fact the two marry together quite nicely. About two years ago a young man by the name of Luke walked into Made in Newcastle 1 (On Nun Street) and presented myself and my colleague with a bundle of books... bit odd we thought.. but all became clear, as he went on to explain that he was part of an initiative called Book Crossing.

The ethos behind the scheme is that you breath new life into once loved works, with the simple aim of connecting people through books. The idea is that instead of just letting your old favorites collect dust, you "Release" them into the wild to be found and loved by another reader. Be that giving it to someone you know, or leaving it somewhere for someone to find. Book Crossing is the act of giving a book a unique identity number, so as the book passes from reader to reader, it's journey can be tracked through the Book Crossing web site. There are currently 8995,204 book traveling through 132 countries. It's free to join and I have to admit I got a geeky thrill when I "caught" my first wild release whist on a day out in Wylam! 


With the increase in popularity of e-books and Kindles I was inspired to read about another "real" book loving scheme called the Little Free Library. Two years ago Todd Bol from Madison Wisconsin wanted to honor the passing of his late mother, a former teacher and book lover. So Bol built a miniature model of a library, filled it with books for anyone to take and placed it outside his home. From that simple idea hundreds of similar Little Free Librarys have popped up on lawns and in community spaces all across the globe.

Little Free Library website has some great examples of library's people have built, from simple crates to lavish log cabins. 


World Book Night 2012 is on Monday 23rd and Newcastle Library will have author Adele Parks reading from her latest book "About Last Night" and local actors "Spectrum Arts" will be performing "Shakespeares Greatest Hits"