Christmas is fast approaching, but being an impatient lot here at Nick Hern Books we’ve decided to start the gift-giving early. So throughout December, we’re going to be making 12 books available at half price on 12 specific days. We’re calling it our NHB Advent Calendar.

Every weekday from Monday 3rd December to Tuesday 18th December we’re going to be making one selected book available at 50% off through our website. This is the best price you'll be able to find for our books anywhere, but the discount will run for that day only, so you’ll have to make sure you keep an eye out for that day’s gift!

The books are a selection of titles from across the year, a great mix of insightful practical guides, fascinating theatre books and top-notch plays. The titles will be announced via our social media channels on Facebook and Twitter. They’ll be the only places to find out which book is on discount that day, so sign up now to take advantage of our great offer.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR DISCOUNT:

1. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We’ll be announcing the titles daily.
2. The day’s title will be available at 50% off the RRP from 00:00 GMT to 23:59 GMT. Each discount is only valid for that day.
3. When placing your order through our website, just enter the promotional code NHBADVENT at checkout. Your 50% discount will be automatically applied.

THE NHB ADVENT TITLES

Here's a list of the titles so far...

Mon 3rd: Sweet William: Twenty Thousand Hours With Shakespeare by Michael Pennington
Tues 4th: How Musicals Work - And How to Write Your Own by Julian Woolford
Wed 5th: Love and Information by Caryl Churchill
Thurs 6th: The Golden Rules of Acting by Andy Nyman
Fri 7th: I Am Shakespeare by Mark Rylance
Mon 10th: So You Want To Be In Musicals? by Ruthie Henshall with Daniel Bowling
Tues 11th: Shakespeare's Lost Play: In Search of Cardenio by Gregory Doran
Wed 12th: The Last of the Haussmans by Stephen Beresford
Thurs 13th: Getting Directions by Russ Hope
Fri 14th: Shakespeare on Theatre by Nick de Somogyi
Mon 17th: 55 Days by Howard Brenton
Tues 18th: Shakespeare Monologues for Young Men and Young Women by Luke Dixon

Nick Hern Books has joined forces with Salisbury Playhouse, Out of Joint, the BBC Writersroom and the National Association of Youth Theatres to launch A Play for the Nation’s Youth, a new competition to discover the next great play for young people.

The chosen playwright will win £1000 seed commission and will be given support including dramaturgy, mentoring, theatre workshops and a public staged reading with professional actors and young people. There is also the possibility that a successful development period could lead to a production and publication.

Each writer is asked to submit at least 25 pages of a new and unperformed piece for young people aged 11-19 years which can either be an original play or an adaptation of a copyright free text. There should be roles for at least 20 young people but adult roles may also feature.

Award-winning playwright and NHB author Fin Kennedy, who has frequently worked in collaboration with school children, says:

‘Youth theatre is where I started out, and where many of the playwrights, actors and directors of tomorrow still try out their skills. It's a sector we should rightly be nurturing so it's great to see such an imaginative professional partnership coming together to do just that. I wish them all the best and will be watching the results with interest!'

For more information, including instructions on how to submit your play, click here.

Nick Hern Books has a strong tradition of publishing plays for young people, including works by leading playwrights such as Fin Kennedy and Stuart Paterson. Recent publications include Ali Taylor’s adaptation of Robert Westall’s Carnegie medal-winning novel The Machine Gunners, Mike Kenny’s dramatisation of Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale The Wind in the Willows, and Helen Edmundson and Neil Hannon’s version of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, which was nominated for the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards 2012.