HELPING HAND HarperCollins editor left ‘heartbroken’ by India Covid battle launches Books for Vaccines auction to raise vital cash

HELPING HAND HarperCollins editor left ‘heartbroken’ by India Covid battle launches Books for Vaccines auction to raise vital cash
on May 04, 2021

A BOOK editor left heartbroken by the pandemic in India has launched a new charity auction that's aiming to raise vital funds for those affected by the crisis. Phoebe Morgan, editorial director at HarperCollins, is aiming to generate cash for Care International - with a view to providing help for those struck down by Covid.

The charity is working to provide support and vaccines to the hardest-hit countries during the pandemic. And already some of the biggest names in publishing have donated signed books and editorial help to the Books for Vaccines cause. Phoebe said: I wanted to run this auction after being inspired by the brilliant initiatives of Books To Nourish and Authors for Grenfell; it follows a similar format and so at the moment we are looking for auction items from across the publishing industry. This can be signed books, book bundles, 121s from literary agents for aspiring writers, Zoom mentoring sessions or phone calls from anyone in the industry who has time to spare to help someone trying to get a foot in the door (particularly tricky at the moment), basically anything of value that is book related. All eligible items will be uploaded to the site by the time bidding goes live next week on May 7th, and the auction will then run until 21st May, with bidders encouraged to place their highest bids in order to raise as much money as possible for this cause. I feel heartbroken by the situation in India, the pandemic has been so hard for everyone and every day when I see the UK situation improve I know that this is not the case everywhere and imagine how awful it would be to not have access to the healthcare we have in the UK. I have seen quite a few people looking for ways to help and a place to donate so this is just a small way of trying to help (though obviously, it is not enough). Care International works in 104 countries and support millions of people across the globe. And the auction aims to raise as much money as possible for the cause. India recently announced a record 400,000 Covid cases in a single day. The grim tally for Saturday was followed by a further 392,488 cases on Sunday and an additional 3,689 deaths. Phoebe has been blown away by the generosity of publishers who have already donated to the auction - which kicks off on May 7. She said: So far the reaction has been amazing! I always think of this industry as a very supportive and generous place and I’m so grateful to everyone who has donated (and to those who are helping me figure out how to make a URL work). We have about 100 items so far but would love more – we have quite a lot of signed books so other items are very welcome, and if anyone has time to share the details that would be extremely helpful. Source: thescottishsun