The list of 25 books has now been chosen for World Book Night – a brand new initiative which will see one million free books given away on 5 March 2011.

How was the list selected? Books were nominated from all members of the trade (with a view that at least twenty of the books on the list had to be by British authors still resising in the UK today, whereas five could be wildcards – authors of any nationality, from any era) and final selection whittled down by a committee.

How will the one million copies be given away? 40,000 copies will be distributed by World Book Night organisers. But the main bulk of 960,000 copies will be given away by nominated members of the public. They are therefore inviting anyone to apply to be one of the 20,000 people who will get 48 copies of one of the books on the list to give to anyone they think will enjoy it! Apply to be a Book Giver here (before 4 Jan 2011!)

There will be a number of events taking place around the country in the run up to World Book Night, so look out for any events near you at your local library or book shop. And on the nights itself a series of celebrations will take place with many libraries and bookshops extending their opening hours.

The full list of titles selected are as follows:

Kate Atkinson – Case Histories
Margaret Atwood – The Blind Assassin
Alan Bennett – A Life Like Other People’s
John Le Carré – The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Lee Child – Killing Floor
Carol Ann Duffy – The World’s Wife
Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Seamus Heaney – Selected Poems
Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday
Mohsin Hamid – The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Ben Macintyre – Agent Zigzag
Gabriel García Márquez – Love in the Time of Cholera
Yann Martel – Life of Pi
Alexander Masters – Stuart: A Life Backwards
Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
David Mitchell – Cloud Atlas
Toni Morrison – Beloved
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Half of a Yellow Sun
David Nicholls – One Day
Philip Pullman – Northern Lights
Erich Maria Remarque – All Quiet on the Western Front
C J Sansom – Dissolution
Nigel Slater – Toast
Muriel Spark – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Sarah Waters – Fingersmith

For more information visit the World Book Night website here.