Readathon to launch Oxfam's Bookfest 2010

An array of renowned authors turned out at Oxfam's Marylebone bookshop yesterday to launch the charity's second annual Bookfest, the largest nationwide book festival in the UK.

An array of renowned authors turned out at Oxfam's Marylebone bookshop yesterday to launch the charity's second annual Bookfest, the largest nationwide book festival in the UK.

Joanna Trollope, Mark Haddon, Esther Freud (pictured here), Maggie O'Farrell and Marie Claire contributer Adele Parks (look out for her exclusive short story in the new issue of MC, out this week) were among those who took part at the readathon, which began at 8am and ran throughout the day and into the night, featuring around 60 published and unpublished authors.

Oxfam's trading director, David McCullough said: 'The readathon is a fantastic way to launch Bookfest 2010, and it's so exciting to have such well known faces involved.'

Running from 3 to 17 July, Bookfest will include more than 5,000 events in Oxfam shops and other venues across the country, and hopes to generate more than £500,000 in additional book sales over the summer.

'Bookfest is our way of saying thank you to shoppers and book-donors and of encouraging more people to come and experience the fantastic range of books available in our shops,' said David.

Last year's successful Bookfest resulted in a 40% increase in book donations to Oxfam and triggered additional book sales of hundreds of thousands of pounds in the following months.

Other big names taking part in this year's Bookfest include Kate Mosse, Deborah Moggach, Sara Maitland, Joanna Briscoe, Jake Arnott, Geoff Dyer, Lucy Cavendish, Cameron Adicott and Jane Weir.

So what are you waiting for? Join in the fun and bury your nose in a good novel! Find out what's going on in your local area by checking out the Oxfam website.