Worldreader
Seattle, WA
www.worldreader.org
Worldreader is a nonprofit created in 2010 by David Risher (former Amazon.com executive) and Colin McElwee (former ESADE Business School's marketing director) whose mission is to make digital books (via e-readers and mobile phones) available to children and their families in the developing world. Worldreader combines new technologies, the mobile phone networks, and declining costs to provide immediate access to hundreds of thousands of local textbooks, storybooks, and international literature.
Via its e-reader programs, Worldreader has delivered over 480,000 e-books, impacting nearly 10,000 children and families in six sub-Saharan African countries. In addition, through Worldreader Mobile--book application--more than half a million people globally are reading a wide variety of books, from educational material to children's books, all on a device they already own--their mobile phone. Worldreader partners with African publishers to make their books available to children in the e-reader programs, and to everyone through Worldreader Mobile. At the same time, Worldreader's international publishing partners make their books available at no cost, exposing children and families everywhere to some of the best-known literature in the world.
Innovations in Reading is supported by a generous grant from Levenger.
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The Mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America.
The 64th National Book Awards will take place on November 20, 2013.