World Book Day - 23rd April
World Book Day is celebrated every
year on April 23. UNESCO undertakes the responsibility of the event.
With the help of the event, UNESCO aims to inculcate reading habits
among people, especially the youth and highlight the various issues
surrounding authors, publishers and other related parties. Since
Copyright is a big issue in the world of books and writing, there is
always a focus on the issue on the World Book Day. That's why, in many
parts of the world, this day is also known as the World Book and
Copyright Day.
The first ever World Book Day was celebrated on April 23, 1995.
The date as decided by UNESCO as it was also the death and birth
anniversary of William Shakespeare, a world famous author. The date also
coincided with the death anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes, who was a
noted Spanish author. Some other well known authors whose birth or death
anniversary falls on this day are Maurice Druon, Josep Pla and Halldor
Laxness.
The idea of the day was taken from a Spanish tradition. April
23rd has always been celebrated as "The Rose Day" in Spain. On this day,
people exchanged roses for showing their love and support, much like
the Valentine's Day. However, in 1926, when Miguel de Cervantes dies on
the day, people exchanged books instead of roses in order to commemorate
the death of the great author. The tradition continues to this day in
Spain and that's from where the idea of the World Book Day came about.
As the name suggests, the focus of the day is on books and
writing. Thus, various programs are held by UNESCO to promote reading
habits among people. Focus is also on discussing various issues
pertaining to the world of authors, publishers, distributors etc. as
well as promoting their works and causes.
However, unlike other such days, there are no themes decided as
such by UNESCO each year, although there is a specific topic around
which programs are organized every year. Apart from that, there are
traditions on the day which are specific to some countries. The
tradition of exchanging books in Spain has already been talked about.
There is also the tradition of organizing a reading marathon spanning
two days in Spain, at the end of which an author is given the coveted
Miguel de Cervantes prize by the King of Spain. In Sweden, writing
competitions are organized across schools and colleges.
In UK as well as Ireland, the day is celebrated on the first
Thursday of March instead of April 23. April 23 is the St. George's Day
in UK, and hence, to avoid a clash with it, the day has been moved in UK
as well as Ireland.
The organizing body of the day, UNESCO, comes with different
themes for the day each year. In 2012, the theme of the day was
translation. The theme of World Book Day 2012 was decided in order to
promote "equitable access of content across regions."
Kindergarten Day celebrates birthday of Friedrich Froebe who was born in 1782 and started the first kindergarten in 1837, in Germany.
