The full interview of Emma Watson with Entertainment Weekly
Emma was asked about her book fairy activities on International Women’s Day, and she talked in depth about leaving feminist books around New York and helping to launch The Book Fairies worldwide!
A transcript of Emma’s interview about The Book Fairies
Interviewer: So, Wednesday was International Women’s day and you’re active with the United Nations HeforShe program as we’ve already discussed, very important to you. How did you spend the day?
Emma Watson: So I spend the day book ninjaing…which is the way I describe it. Actually, there is an Organization I work with and they call themselves the Book Fairies. I did 5 different book drops around iconic feminist locations in New York. I went around and left books next to the Gertrude Stein statue, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Joan of Arc, and the blue stockings radical bookstore…yes. So I was busy running around all over town. Yea, it’s really fun. And it has kind of become a thing now. A few people who saw me were like “Oh you’re leaving a book!” and I was like “yes, I am!” I think sometimes people see a book and they are like it must be for someone else, or someone left it, whatever. So people are picking them up now. They’re curious, and whatever else. So, it’s nice.
I : I saw this headline that Emma Watson is leaving books all over the world and I was like where did she get Santa Claus power from?
E: I know! It’s fun!
I: SO did you get helpers all around the world?
E: yeah so after I did the first book drop, I started getting letters from all over the world like “Come and do it in Dubai, in Japan, or wherever” So Cordelia and I, who helps me do it, we sort of coordinated this international book drop where we had volunteers from every country, and we send them books, and they went and left them around. We actually managed to do 26 different countries around the world. So, really fun!
I: What were the books that you? Were they the same?
E: Previously I would leave books from that specific month of my book club choice was, we actually left books from 6 or 7 months, we left 6-7 different feminist type books like Gloria Steinem’s “My Life on the Road”, Caitlin Moran’s “How to be a woman”, we had “The Color Purple”, “Persepolis”… so we had a range of different ones! It was pretty cool.
I: Do you see yourself continuing this? It seems like you enjoy it?
E: I do! It’s pretty fun! It’s sort of civil disobedience! I shouldn’t be advertising it that way though. As long as people are asking and volunteering, I am super down with that at the moment.
I: What are you reading at the moment? I know our shared shelf is your book club?
E: My friend gave me this book for Christmas, she is a psychiatrist, “Man’s Search for Meaning”. It’s a pretty heavy subject but surprisingly readable. It’s actually very short. I loved it! Some really good words of wisdom.
Would you like to be a Book Fairy like Emma?
Anyone can be a book fairy – ANYWHERE! Like Emma, you can share the books you love, simply by popping a sticker on and leaving them in a prominent place. It’s a worldwide book hunt!