World Book Day 2025 in the UK and Ireland

World Book Day 2025 in the UK and Ireland took place on Thursday 6 March. As usual, children received a £1 (€1.50 in Ireland) token, which could be exchanged between 13 February and 23 March 2025 for one of the specially published World Book Day books.

The list comprised 12 titles available across the UK, with additional exclusive titles for Ireland and a Welsh-language book, pitched at beginning, early, fluent and independent readers. Authors involved in the year's events included Julia Donaldson, Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Nadia Shireen. The charity said more than 4,000 booksellers were taking part, from independents to national chains and supermarkets.

National Book Tokens has been the headline sponsor for more than two decades. The charity used the occasion to repeat a figure it cites often, that half a million children in England do not own a single book.

World Book Day is best known for costumes, but its core is the token, which puts a free book within reach of children who might otherwise not choose one. That matters for the whole book world: readers are made in childhood, and every adult market, including the one for new writers, depends on them.

Source: World Book Day: 2025 announcements.