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| Oxfam Teams Up with The Hay Festival |
This year, for the first time, Oxfam has teamed up with the Hay Festival, the UK’s leading festival of writers and ideas for its biggest ever charity partnership aiming to raise much-needed funds for Oxfam’s work and to celebrate the love of books. The Hay Festival which runs from 21 to 31 May, will feature high profile guests such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sophie Dahl and Adrian Goldsworthy who will all appear in the newly christened Oxfam Studio venue on site. Also reborn to symbolise this exciting new partnership is the Hay Prize. The prize, awarded to an author at the Hay festival chosen by his or her peers, will be renamed the Oxfam Prize at Hay, and will take the form of a valuable literary volume sourced from Oxfam’s network of bookshops. To mark this occasion Oxfam will also be launching its first ever national book donation drive, aiming to collect more than 500,000 books - from donations made by members of the public both at the Hay Festival and to Oxfam shops throughout the UK. The estimated £800,000 this would raise would be enough to fund education programmes for more than 6,500 children orphaned by HIV and AIDS in Zambia, buy 8,500 camels, or provide safe water for well over a million people. Oxfam will also have a stand on the Hay site where visitors can meet dedicated members of its book team, buy second hand books from Oxfam’s onsite shop and find out more about how Oxfam’s books are helping to fight poverty around the world. David McCullough, Oxfam’s director of trading, said: “The Hay partnership is a brilliant opportunity to show how our aim in helping people work their way out of poverty can be achieved through the love of reading and books. With over 20 years experience in the books business, we are passionate and knowledgeable about all things books and the difference these donations can make to people living in poverty. We raise around £1.6 million each month from book sales - that’s enough to buy 50,000 emergency shelters, safe water for 2.1 million people, or 64,000 goats.” * Oxfam has more than 130 specialist bookshops and sells books in nearly all of its 720 shops. * The charity is Europe’s biggest high street retailer of second-hand books, and the third-biggest bookseller in the UK. * Oxfam’s shop network is supported by over 21,000 volunteers. * The first Oxfam bookshop was opened in St Giles, Oxford, in 1987. |
| Posted: 28/04/2009 16:42:52 |
Chick Lit > News :: Oxfam Teams Up with The Hay Festival