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Many campaigners for libraries and free reading have been slow in overcoming their suspicions of digital reading and publishing; meanwhile the debate about the future of the book has been dominated by a book trade desperate to find new means to flog their old wares and package up digital chunks of text for sale. This talk argues that the shift of power relations between writer, reader and publisher brought about by the web makes us all amplified authors and collaborative readers. These changes are profound, liberating and need to be celebrated and defended. Describing if:book's recent projects with libraries, publishing and curating the book, Chris Meade will argue that it's time to re-imagine literature and how and where we want books to happen in our lives.Chris Meade is Director of if:book, the think and do tank exploring the future of the book in the digital age. A digital writer and blogger at www.bookfutures.com, he was previously CEO of Booktrust and the Poetry Society, with a track record of running imaginative and innovative literature projects.See also:Second Summer university in open electronic publishing: a pre-programe