25. Readers: Welcome to the 3rd edition of Towel Day in India
...and an afterparty at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe!
Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Oh no, wrong fandom :P anyway, before we enter the fascinating universe of Douglas Adams, here’s a nudge to subscribe, and become a member of our growing Readers of 42 community.
What IS Towel Day?
Let’s begin with who Douglas Adams was: an author known for his satirical takes on life, the universe and everything, with a science fiction twist, in his books. The number 42, the phrase ‘Don’t Panic’ and a lot more from him, are etched in pop culture history.
Born on March 11, 1952, he’s best known for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a ‘trilogy in five parts’. While his writing style will make you grin, and you’ll laugh at the improbable and absurd situations in his novels, there’s a very strong critique of the way the world functions, making you think and questions things we take for granted.
It originally started as a BBC radio series, which Pan MacMillan later turned into the iconic books. You can find the original radio scripts in a separate book published by them. The books gained a cult following since the first edition’s publication on 12th October 1979, selling over 250,000 copies in just the first 3 months. That’s quite a feat considering the limited options back then for promotion (no social media or internet)!
Following his untimely death in 2001 from a heart attack, fans all over the world got together and decided to celebrate May 25, each year, as ‘Towel Day’.
Why a towel? Well, the towel has a lot of significance in the book. This brilliant infographic explains it best:
Towel Day Event in India: Project Bibliotherapy in association with Pan MacMillan at Kunzum
Since 2022, as ardent fans of Douglas Adams and his entire universe of crazy ideas, we started celebrating Towel Day in New Delhi where we live.
Kunzum Books, started as our venue partner and has remained since then, given their curator is a huge fan too.
This year though, we’re cranking it up a notch, and we’d love to have you with us.
We kickstarted our celebrations this week with a fun Instagram LIVE with Yvette Keller. Yvette was the Global Towel Day Ambassador last year. She is an author, a huge fan of Douglas Adams and created The Douglas Adams London Map & Guide featuring 42 places from his life and work.
On May 25, Towel Day, New Delhi goes to the polls. After an attempt to vote out the Vogons, we got a line-up of interesting experiences online to celebrate DNA.
First, we are going live on Instagram with Kevin Jon Davies: the author of 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams. Come join us live in your timezone!
Davies is also a filmmaker, editor, writer, lecturer and an SFX animator. He worked with Douglas Adams on the 1981 BBC TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and has directed the Making of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy documentary.
Today, on Towel Day, he’s announced an exciting NEW book with Unbound - check it out below!
We also got a couple of more surprises lined up today. Stay tuned :)
On May 26, we step out with our towels at hand to organize our biggest Towel Day celebrations yet :)
In partnership with Pan MacMillan India, (big thanks to the team for their enthusiasm with Towel Day!) we’re curating an evening full of Towel Day-themed events, listed on the global Towel Day website right here:
This time, we plan to host ice-breaker games, a dramatic reading from the book, a DNA trivia quiz with prizes from Pan MacMillan India (including a limited edition towel) and our special ‘DNA 42’ zine, write Vogon poetry with our Readers, and launch the Douglas Adams Corner of this newsletter, the Readers of 42 Library :) more to come on that.
We will also be introducing our reading program, the Readers of 42 to everyone who will be there :)
This will be followed by a fun after-party at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, aka AKU’s The Burger Co. (known for their legendary handcrafted burgers) where we chill over burgers and beers and talk all things books.
So come join us if you’re around :) we would love to have you there!
LIVE Stream for our Readers across the world
For our Readers of 42 who are located elsewhere, we will be streaming LIVE on YouTube from Kunzum on the day.
(Edit - Apologies. Tech issues resulted in the stream not happening. We will make it up to you)
Cheers, and don’t panic! ~ N&N
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