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Latest News

June 2011:

Book needs shop!

From September 2011, Books 4 Life Utrecht will unfortunately have to move out of its current shop space which is provided by JoHo. If you or anyone you know can help us with the search for a new, free, space for selling our books, please contact us via b4lutrecht.pr@gmail.com.

Additional information:

  • Books 4 Life spends a maximum of 10% of the money raised from book sales for operational costs (the rest goes to charity), so we can't afford to pay rent for a shop space
  • We are looking for a space that is at least 20 m2, but we'd really like something that is 30 m2 or bigger
  • Books 4 Life Utrecht has raised 10,000 euros for charity since it opened its doors in June 2009
  • Books 4 Life Utrecht is proudly run by a team of more than 30 passionate volunteers

May 2011: Books 4 Life weer te zien op YouTube

A local station in Tilburg (Tilburg Totaal) has made a nice little YouTube film about Books 4 Life. You can learn about the development of the shop in Tilburg and what it looks like today. In other news from Tilburg, the shop's own Webshop is now back online and filled with dozens of great bargains.



Want to watch another fun Books 4 Life YouTube video? Why not take a look at the promofilm of Books 4 Life Maastricht.


March 2011: Winners Books 4 Life story competition announced

On 11 and 12 March, the winners of our Books 4 Life story writing competition were announced. The winning stories will be given as a gift to all customers in our shops in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven in honour of National Book Week, from 16-26 March.

The theme of the story writing competition was 'Portrait of an idealist' and more than 35 entries were sent in to be judged by our professional jury. Asking for stories about idealism fits in nicely with Books 4 Life's own philosophy: 90% of the money we raise goes directly to charity.

Natalie Koch, jury member in Eindhoven said: ‘I was surprised at the variation and creativity with which the "idealist" has been described'.  

The prize ceremony in Amsterdam was part of an interactive afternoon in which the audience was invited to debate the subject of how to best go about changing the world. Howard Komproe  read a piece of literature and Laura van Waas, founder of Books 4 Life, talked about her own motivation to set up the first Books 4 Life shop.

In Utrecht, Jolanda van Schie talked about her own idealistic initiative. Writer Eelco van den Dool explained the connections that he saw between the top-3 winning stories in Utrecht and his own observations of the world in his book 'Effective Idealism'. Plus, the winning story in Utrecht will also be published in the Utrechtste Straatnieuws!

The three winners of the Books 4 Life story competition 2011 are (from North to South):

-         ‘Fantastic Syria, welcome to the axis of evil' [Fantastisch Syrië, welkom in de as van het kwaad] by Chiel van der Voort in Amsterdam

-         ‘The shower coach' [De Douchecoach] by Matthé Kampman in Utrecht

-         ‘A brilliant move...' [Een Meesterlijke zet…] by Else Bruinink in Eindhoven


December 2010: Win a Sony eReader

We would like to thank Books 4 Life customers by offering them the chance to enter a competition to win Books 4 Life book tokens and an eReader. The more books you buy, the greater your chance of winning a prize!

How does the competition work?

3 books have been placed in each Books 4 Life shop and your task is to guess the weight of these books. For each book that you buy in our shop, you can enter a guess about the weight of these books. So, the more books you buy, the more chance you have of guessing correctly. To enter the competition, you simply fill in your name, email address and your guess(es) on a slip of paper provided to you when you make your purchace. You can enter as often as you like during the competition period.

Prizes

In each shop, we will see whose guess comes closest to the actual weight of the books and offer 3 prizes accordingly. The first prize is a Books 4 Life book token worth 15 euros, second prize is a 10-euro token and third prize a 5-euro token. From all the people who end in first place in the different shops, we will see who was the most successful guesser in the country. This winner will receive an eReader (a silver Sony Reader Touch Edition).

Competition regulations

  • Volunteers and board members of Books 4 Life cannot participate in the competition
  • The competition will run until 31 January 2010
  • The weight should be estimated in kilograms (to the nearest gram, e.g. 5.253 kg)
  • If several winners guessed the same weight, the prize will go to the person among these who bought the most books
  • The winners will be notified by 14 February 2011

November 2010: Sinterklaas at Books 4 Life

The festive season started early at Books 4 Life. On Monday 22 November, we are announcing our donation for the year to both Amnesty International and Oxfam Novib. We have already started raising more money for these and other charities through our continued book sales. You can support us by buying an environmentally friendly, charity-book as a gift for someone this holiday. We have a wide selection of different kinds of books. Can't choose one? No problem. Buy a Books 4 Life gift token - ask about the possibilities in one of our shops..


September 2010: Stan Putnam wins Books 4 Life Amsterdam writing competition with "Tijd vliegt" ('time flies')

The jury has passed its verdict: the story "Tijd vliegt" ('time flies') by Stan Putman is the winner of the Books 4 Life Amsterdam writing competition. The contest, organised in cooperation with JoHo Amsterdam, centred on the theme "Unknown(s)". The jury - Krijn-Peter Hesselink, Marieke Groen en Nicolien Kegels - had the following to say about the stories submitted to the competition:

‘The theme Unknown(s) has inspired lots of aspiring writers to create a short story. Many wrote a surprising response to the theme and introduced the jury to a world of Unknown(s): strange characters, unusual situations and worlds whose existence you can only begin to imagine.’

 More than 30 stories were entered into the writing competition and the quality was so high that the jury decided to also award a second and third prize. All three of the winning stories have been compiled and printed in a story booklet, of which the very first copy was offered to 1st prize winner Stan during the prize ceremony on 25 September. The jury thought that in his story "the main characters find themselves in a surprising world reminiscent of the stories by Toon Tellegen". Click here to read the winning story.


August 2010: Bondo Kids and Compassion win donation from Books 4 Life Eindhoven

For two weeks, customers and volunteers of Books 4 Life Eindhoven could submit their vote for which two charities would receive a donation this year. Almost 250 people sent in their vote through the shop or online. In the end, of the four nominated organisations, Bondo Kids and Compassion gained the most votes. Compassion will use the money towards setting up a library for children in Nicaragua, while Bondo Kids has plans to create paved pathways in order to forge a closer link between handicapped children in a special centre in Kenya with their neighbouring village. Anyone who wants to help raise money for these projects should come and buy some books from Books 4 Life Eindhoven (in the Outlet shop of the central library) before 9 September so that we have even more euros to donate. The total donation offered to these charities - and the two permanent beneficiaries Amnesty International and Oxfam Novib - will be announced during the shop's 1st birthday on 9 September. Find out more about the shop in Eindhoven: visit their website here.