IAN RANKIN JOINS WATERSTONES’ BUY BOOKS FOR SYRIA CAMPAIGN

This week, Waterstones, the UK’s biggest bookseller announces its ‘Buy Books for Syria’ campaign, with the goal to raise one million pounds for Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal.

From Thursday 1st October, Waterstones booksellers will sell a selection of books by bestselling authors including Ian Rankin, which have all been donated by their publishers, and the full retail price will be donated to Oxfam.

Ian Rankin said: “It’s great to see Waterstones uniting with publishers and authors to raise money for Oxfam’s work with Syrian refugees. Buy a book, help save a life.”

James Daunt, Waterstones’ Managing Director, said: “In desperate times like these, everyone feels the need to do something, to help in some way. We are doing what we do best: bookselling, and it only feels right that every single penny of each book sold will go straight to Oxfam. We are proud to be able to transform the generosity of authors and publishers into such a substantial contribution to Oxfam’s work.”

Mark Goldring, CEO, Oxfam said: “With £1m our program could deliver clean water to another 150,000 people in Syria, or support to tens of thousands of people in Jordan over the next year. This help is urgently needed as the conflict in Syria shows no sign of ending.”

All Waterstones shops are participating, simply ask a bookseller or look for the books with the ‘Buy Books for Syria’ sticker.

Other authors supporting include Mary Beard, Alan Bennett, Michael Bond, William Boyd, Bill Bryson, Tracy Chevalier, Lee Child, Julia Donaldson, Neil Gaiman, Mark Haddon, Matt Haig, Robert Harris,Max Hastings, Victoria Hislop, Khaled Hosseini, Marian Keyes, Lynda La Plante, Andrea Levy, Hilary Mantel, Peter May, Alexander McCall Smith, Caitlin Moran, Michael Morpugo, JoJo Moyes, David Nicholls, Philip Pullman, Tom Rob Smith, Salman Rushdie, Ali Smith, David Walliams and Jacqueline Wilson.

UK publisher support includes Atlantic Books, Bloomsbury, Canongate, Egmont, Faber, Granta, Hachette, HarperCollins, Oneworld, Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House UK, Profile, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Titan and Usborne.

You can follow the campaign online using the hashtag #BuyBooksForSyria. You can donate directly to the campaign.