The Guardian: Fancy having your name on a gravestone in Neil Gaiman’s next novel? Or meeting your end at the hands of a zombie in Stephen King’s latest? Or being immortalised as one of Sunny Baudelaire’s “utterances”? Here’s your chance. As part of a charity venture, 16 authors, from John Grisham to Dave Eggers, are offering readers the opportunity to have their name appear in their forthcoming books.
Fans will be able to bid on eBay in an auction designed to raise funds for the American charity The First Amendment Project, with the highest bidder for each author buying the guarantee of seeing their name immortalised in print.
Each author has stated on eBay precisely what it is he or she is offering, and the information and provisos stipulated by the writers provide one of the most intriguing aspects of the scheme.
The profits from the auction, which will run from September 1 to 25, will be donated to an advocacy project dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of information and expression. The First Amendment Project provides free legal services to writers, journalists and artists on first amendment matters.
p.s. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
