'12 Years a Slave' will be distributed to schools as part of World Book Night

As Oscar night approaches, it has been decided that “12 Years a Slave” – the memoir from which the Oscar-nominated film was adapted – will now be part of the World Book Night celebrations this April.

According to industry newsletter Shelf Awareness, special copies of “12 Years a Slave,” printed for the occasion by publisher Dover Publications, will be made available to various schools as part of World Book Night, which is celebrated on April 23.

“With the attention brought to this important book by the award-winning movie, we felt that we should make it available as part of World Book Night's mission," WBN US executive director Carl Lennertz said. "One third of our half million free books each year go into underfunded rural and urban high schools, and when Dover Publications offered to work with us on this, we jumped at the chance.”

Titles being distributed on World Book Night had been announced this past October and included such works as “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” by Maria Semple, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, and more, with 35 different titles being handed out in total.

The event is being celebrated in the US and Germany for the third time this year and in the UK and Ireland for the fourth. As part of the celebration, those who sign up hand free copies of the selected titles to family, friends, or anyone they meet.