India takes the 'Global Reads' Poll by Storm
19 March 2010

A host of Indian inspired books and writers are in the running to become the UK’s favourite Global Read. 'Swami and Friends' and 'Malgudi Days' by R.K Narayan, 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy, 'The White Tiger' by Aravind Adiga, 'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert and 'A Passage to India' by E.M Forster are currently riding high in the top 30, in an initiative set up to raise money for charity. Global Reads was launched by the National Book Tokens in the UK as part of its campaign to raise £10,000 for Book Aid International.

The money raised will be used to distribute 5,000 books to library users across 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. People from across the world are asked to vote for their favourite Global Read - a book with a global theme that has changed their perception of another country or introduced them to a different culture. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, comedian and travel-writer Michael Palin and author and former model, Sophie Dahl have also contributed their favourite Global Read.

“lmproving education across Africa is vitally important in eradicating poverty and the Government is committed to helping poor countries achieve the education Millennium Development Goal. I welcome the work that you are doing to send as many books to sub-Saharan Africa as possible and I wish you every success with your campaign.” Gordon Brown, Prime Minister.

Author and former British politician Jeffrey Archer has chosen Malgudi Days by R.K Narayan as his Global Read. He comments, “When I was in India on a book tour in 2008, the Indian Times correspondent told me not to bother with all the sacred cows of Indian literature, and we all know who she meant by those, but to read R K Narayan. He is a genius. I only discovered him that year, but now have probably read everything he has ever written. He is known over here only by the minority, but his simple, atmospheric tales of everyday Indian life and its people, are sheer magic. When people ask me to recommend a writer, I say look at their short stories, and then you can decide whether you like the author enough to read their novels.”

The current top 10 Global Reads are:

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Wild Swans by Jung Chang
• The Jive Talker: Or, How to Get a British Passport by Samson Kamabalu
• Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh by Helena Norberg-Hodge
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Small Island by Andrea Levy
• Once Were Warriors by Alan Duff
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

People from across the world are asked to vote for their favourite Global Read via www.globalreads.co.uk. The results of the favourite Global Read will be announced on 12 May 2010