Philip Pullman is scheduled to appear at a World Book Night event on the 4th of March in Trafalgar Square. The event, which will be presented by Graham Norton, was inspired by World Book Day, which distributes book tokens around schools for specially written books.

Over a million books will be given away at the event including Northern Lights. Other authors attending include Derek Walcott, Margaret Atwood and Alan Bennett.

About the event, Pullman said this: “I love this idea. There’s something primeval about it: to think of my story being passed on from one person to another makes me feel a connection with the earliest storytellers in their caves, or crouching around a fire on the dark savannah. The relationship between the storyteller, the story, and the audience is an ancient one that long predates things like bestseller lists and royalty statements, or even money itself. It’s really a form of enchantment. The gift idea is just as old and just as potent, and to see them combined in this brilliant and simple way is a delight. I’m very privileged to be part of it.”