Celebrating World Book Day

at the British Council Library, Colombo

The British Council Library, Colombo, will celebrate World Book Day this year with a series of activities which will commence on Saturday 29 February 2020

with a British book fair by the British Council’s partner booksellers – Chapters, Sarasavi Bookshop and Vijitha Yapa Bookshop, and an exclusive exhibition entitled

Drawing Words. The events over the coming days will be open to all the British Council’s library members as well as to the public and will provide an opportunity to explore the joy of books, art and reading.

On Saturday 29 February, the celebrations will commence with the opening of the Drawing

Words exhibition in the Library at 9.30 a.m. by Gill Caldicott, Country Director, British Council Sri Lanka. Drawing Words is a new exhibition of UK children’s book illustrations commissioned by the British Council and curated by the Waterstones UK Children’s Laureate, Lauren Child.

The exhibition will remain open until Sunday 15 March

2020. The opening on Saturday will be followed by a workshop for children between 5 to 8 years of age conducted by Jill Calder, an interactive drawing event from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00p.m. and a story telling session for children of the same age group from 3.00p.m. to 4.00 p.m. Simultaneously, on the same day, the British Council Library will host on the lawn the British book fair, and the booksellers will offer a generous 20% discount to British Council Library members, and a 10% discount to non-members, on all the books on sale. Events on the day will include story telling

for children 5 years to from 12, Draw-the-word for teams of teenagers from 3.00p.m. to 4.00 p.m., and Words in the

grass for teams of any ages from 4.00p.m. to 6.00 p.m.

On Sunday 1 March, the Library team will reprise the same activities on the lawn. In the Library Jill Calder will conduct a workshop for 9 to 12-yearold children from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00p.m. on the Sunday, and on Monday 2 March 2020 conduct an exclusive presentation and masterclass for art students and children’s book illustration

enthusiasts, from 6.00 p.m. to 8.30p.m. On both Saturday and Sunday, the Yamaha Music Centre will provide an opportunity for budding musicians to perform, and Artra Magazine will offer a 20% discount on subscriptions, as well as back copies for sale. World Book Day is an event held annually in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the first Thursday in March, and in keeping with the spirit of the celebration the British Council Library’s Colombo, Kandy and Orion City branches will offer a 10% discount on all memberships (except IELTS and Organisational memberships) from 29 February to 5 March 2020. The British Council Colombo hopes to make this book fair an annual event to promote the love of storytelling, working with words and reading.

The events over the coming days will be open to all the British Council’s library members as well as to the public and will provide an opportunity to explore the joy of books, art and reading