Having seen fellow-BookCrossers engage in all sorts of activities to help their chosen charities, I thought I could use my favourite hobby to raise awareness of, and some money for, LUCIA.

BookCrossing is the act of releasing books into “the wild” to travel and find new readers. Every BookCrossing book is registered with a unique ID number, which can be tracked on the website – if a book is found and an entry made about it on the website, every person who has owned that copy of the book previously is alerted via email.

I’ve been BookCrossing for almost exactly five years and I’ve given away thousands of books. I started off getting rid of my own unwanted books; I also find second copies of books I’ve loved in charity shops and am lucky enough to be given books by a local charity shop and by members of the freecycle organisation and public librarians.

In September 2009, a group of BookCrossers will be celebrating and promoting LUCIA with a mass release. We’ve got specially-designed stickers that go inside and on the front of the books, and hopefully lots of people will be made aware of LUCIA through these, and the notes we’ve placed on the books’ pages on the website.

I’m not sure how many books will be released during the month as participants are still joining up and collecting books. I’ve got about 100 and I’ll be leaving them around The University of Birmingham campus, around Birmingham city centre and wherever else I might travel during the month, as well as in the various Official BookCrossing Zones.

Participants who’ve joined up so far hail from Birmingham, Nottinghamshire, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Essex and the Scottish Borders; Maine, New Hampshire, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Tennessee in the USA; British Columbia in Canada; New South Wales in Australia; Geneva in Switzerland; and Helsinki in Finland.

The books will all have the theme of “women’s roles” in the title, and include “Memoirs of a Geisha”, “Mrs. Kimble”, “Little Women”, “Morality for Beautiful Girls”, “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” and many more.

Some participants are making a donation to LUCIA for every book they hear back from, and one generous BookCrosser is making a 10 cent donation for every book that’s released during the month! We have set up a donation page at http://www.justgiving.com/bookcrossingforLUCIA/ and have already had some donations before we’ve even started!

Comments from participants include “Brilliant cause, well done everyone”; “I’m supporting this charity to demonstrate solidarity with my sisters around the world”, and “Delighted that this challenge has gone global!” and we’re all looking forward to starting to release books out into the wild on September 1…

How you can help

• Join BookCrossing, and if you become a member or already are one, you can find the forum discussion here: http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/23/6230667
• Come to the tabletop sale on 12 September – I’ll have a BookCrossing stall there and remember, for every book you pick up, go online and say you have it, I’ll make a donation to LUCIA! Also you can pass along the book you pick up and help raise awareness.
• Pass suitably titled books on to me for release, via the LUCIA Committee (books need a woman-only role in the title: think grandmother, sister, queen, courtesan, not nurse or doctor or secretary). Include a note of your name if you want me to acknowledge you when I release the book.
• Tell your friends to look out for LUCIA challenge books (there’ll be lots around Birmingham!) and make sure they know what they are.