World Book Day has been busy in the media, online, in schools and in bookshops. The Sun and The Times started their Buy One Give One Free promotions today, the former with the revelation that JLS love Jeffrey Archer, and our colleague Veronique pictured with a Quick Read. Foyles in Westfield today played host to HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, who read from Alice in Wonderland to a group of children and met an enthusiastic group of adult learners. #worldbookday has been the most talked about topic on Twitter in the UK today, with lots of tweets about what people are reading and doing to mark the day.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at Foyles Westfield

Blogger: Truda Spruyt

As a CG intern, the 34th Laurence Olivier Awards nominee's lunch was something of a starry-eyed revelation.  Held in the appropriately glitzy Swimming Pool Room of the Haymarket Hotel, it brought together some of the most exciting new stage talent alongside some of our most established names on screen, following what has been an outstanding year for London theatre.

Jane, Jill and I were greeted by a curb-full of jostling paparazzi, keen to snap the many nominees, of which James Earl Jones, Keira Knightley, Melanie Chisholm (a.k.a ‘Sporty Spice') and Samuel West were all in attendance.  The Awards, run by the Society of London Theatre, are the most prestigious stage accolades in the capital, as stirringly proclaimed in President Nica Burns' opening speech.  The subtle lighting, full flutes of champagne, and rounds of miniature English fayre, however, made for a relaxed and informal afternoon.

Thrust into the throng of guests and clutching my clipboard, I was stationed at the photoboard, on hand to escort stars back to the champagne, to help out the photographers, and to rescue one rather hot and bothered star from the humidity of the Swimming Pool Room...

Anthony Head, who will host this year's ceremony on the 21st March at the Grosvenor House Hotel, said: "I feel we should celebrate.  This year theatre is really on its feet and we should shout it from the rooftops!"  It's not only the nominated performers and creatives who can revel in their glory, however, as for the first time ever the Awards ceremony will be streamed live online on SOLT's Official London Theatre website.

Blogger: Natalie Ferris

Well,  it's certainly not like any other awards evening!

I'm in Abu Dhabi for the announcement last night of the winner of the third International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

The prize is sponsored by the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy and supported by the Booker Prize Foundation (hence my involvement).

After a tension-building couple of hours the winner is announced.  He is Abdo Khal for his book, Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles.

The room erupts as the chair of judges,  Taleb Alrefai, announces his  name. His fellow contestants embace him, and the minister for Culture Zaki Nusseibeh, congratulates him. Abdo Khal has won a significant prize and, with it, $60,000.

The press conference is where things really take off for me  Questions are fired at the winner, at the chair of the judges, and at Jonathan Taylor who chairs the Booker Prize Foundation in the UK and is also Chairman of the IPAF Board of Trustees

The conference is conducted in Arabic and English and runs for well over an hour.  The intensity of the questions puts press conferences in the west in the shade. 

Another major difference is the sense of camaraderie amongst the six shortlisted authors.  The five writers who have now won seem genuinely happy for Abdo Khal. - in contrat to their Western equiv alents who have been known to stalk out when they failed to win.  Today all six are talking at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair in celebration of the prize.

It's only the third year of this award but already it feels like a winner!

Dotti Irving

Abu Dhabi.

3 March 2010

One of the higlights of working on the PR for the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions is attending the Council Meetings, organised by Robin Broke with military efficiency. February's meeting was hosted by the Natural History Museum, so we got the chance to talk arachnid reproduction with curator/spiderwoman Jan Beccaloni (last seen handling a tarantula with Prince William), tour the tank room with its giant squid and have dinner by the Cocoon in the new Darwin Centre.

Blogger: Truda Spruyt

This year The Poetry Archive has solved all of your romantic problems.  If you've forgotten to buy a present, can't quite find the words to declare your love - or just fancy getting Keira Knightley or Jude Law to woo your beloved for you - then take a look at Valentine Voices http://bit.ly/9kmai5

Jude Law © Amy Carrington

The Poetry Archive and The Times Online have teamed up to launch Valentine Voices in time for the big day on Sunday.  A stellar list of celebrities and poets - including Daniel Radcliffe, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Carol Ann Duffy and former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion - have all recorded readings of romantic poems.  These can now be downloaded from The Times Online and sent to your beloved's mobile phone - allowing you to fully express your loving feelings with a little help from some big stars.

Rosamund Pike © Amy Carrington

With every poem sent, a contribution will go to the Poetry Archive, a not-for-profit organisation. The Archive, launched a little over four years ago by Richard Carrington and Andrew Motion, is an online collection of poets reading their own work. Its aims are to make sure that important voices are preserved, to stimulate the teaching of poetry in schools and to develop the general audience for poetry.

James Earl Jones © Amy Carrington

Joanna Lumley, one of the many stars involved, summed it up by saying "Instead of whispering sweet nothings on Valentine's Day, let the Poetry Archive send sweet somethings for you."

Blogger: Emma Beresford