Publisher plays cupid for lonely bookworms

Penguin launches an online dating site with Match.com to bring lovelorn literature fans together

LONDON: Do you love books and are still looking for that special someone? Then there is a new website which has been created to bring your two needs together. International publishing house Penguin and the UK’s biggest online dating website called Match.com have got together and launched a service which brings together book lovers and dating for the very first time.

The launch of PenguinDating.co.uk will offer readers a place to meet and indulge in the age-old art of writing love letters as the boom in online dating restores the importance of the written word to modern courtship. “Sometimes a book is a disposable adventure, an entertaining, temporary distraction that you don’t think about again once you’ve read the last page. But sometimes a book means so much more. At Penguin we believe that the books we cherish and read over and over, those that we feel a deep emotional connection with, say something defining about us and the type of people we are,” explained Anna Rafferty, director of Penguin’s Digital Marketing.

To help singles in their quest to find a fellow literary lover, readers will be asked to write about the last book they read in the profile and can use Match.com’s ‘matchwords’ search feature to hunt through the site’s thousands of registered profiles by their favourite book. “At Match.com we are all about making people successful in their search for that special someone and a shared interest in specific authors or the desire to discuss literature can be compelling signifiers of potential compatibility,” said Jason Stockwood, managing director international at match.com.

Rafferty echoed this. “What are you reading? What did you last read? Who’s your favourite author? are all standard first date questions and what better way to find your life partner than over a shared love for Lawrence or a passion for Pynchon?” said Rafferty.

Match.com has been credited with more marriages than any other website and today has over 15 million people around the world participate in its relationship network.