World Book Day is an annual event celebrated every year by the people all over the world on 23rd of April. It is the most important event organized annually by the UNESCO in order to promote the reading, publishing and copyright among the public worldwide.

Generally, it is celebrated by the authors, illustrators and to encourage reading among common public. 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. Therefore, in many parts of the world, this day is also known as the World Book and Copyright Day.

The date is decided by UNESCO as it was also the death and birth anniversary of William Shakespeare, a world famous English poet, playwright, and actor. The date also befall 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.

Happy World Book Day!