This Tuesday, April 23rd, is celebrated on Book Day 2024one of the international holidays that is celebrated every year in more than 100 countries around the world, and which has a very curious history.
What is the origin of Book Day?
To talk about the origin of Book Day we have to go back to the year 1923, in Catalonia, when the writer Vicente Clavel Andrés proposed to the House Barcelona Book Official the celebration of this holiday. He King Alfonso XIII of Spain was the one who approved it three years later, in 1926, giving way to its first celebration on October 7.
Internationally, The origin of Book Day dates back to 1988.promoted by the UNESCO, beginning to be celebrated in 1989 in several countries. However, in nineteen ninety five it was wheno the General Conference of UNESCO established that Book Day would be celebrated on April 23 to pay tribute to literature and encourage reading among the population.
What is its meaning
Book Day curiously coincides with Sant Jordi’s Day, he pattern of Catalonia. A very special day in which it is tradition that loved ones exchange a rose and a book between them.
Why is it celebrated on April 23?
Book Day has been celebrated every April 23 since 1930 in Spain, and this key date was chosen because it was related to the literary field, since it was the day he died Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, in the year 1616.
Although in reality, the death of Cervantes It was given on the 22nd and he was buried on the 23rd, which is when his death was recorded; and Shakespeare He died on April 23 of the Julian calendar, which is May 3 of the Gregorian calendar.
Additionally, each year the International Federation of Library and Library Associations, the International Union of Publishers, and the International Federation of Booksellers choose a city as World Book Capital, and the first chosen was Madrid, in 2001.
