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International Book Day is celebrated on April 23 because UNESCO chose that date as a reference for the deaths of Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega in 1616. However, Cervantes had died on the 22nd, but his death was recorded the next day, while Shakespeare died on April 23 but on the Julian calendar, which was still used in England. Its equivalent in the Gregorian would be May 3. In any case, the General Conference of UNESCO established International Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day in 1995. Its purposes are to encourage reading and the publishing industry, and to promote the right to intellectual property.
For UNESCO, books are the most powerful tool to disseminate knowledge and contribute to cultural enrichment. However, reading habits vary depending on age or origin. Globally, the populations of India, Thailand and China spent the most time reading in 2021, according to data collected by Global English Editing. In terms of literacy, Europe and Central Asia have the highest rate (99%), followed by Asia-Pacific (95%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (93%). Next are the Middle East and North Africa (81%), South Asia (67%) and sub-Saharan Africa 61%), according to Our World in Data compilation.
Spain, the origin of International Book Day
The idea of an annual book festival dates back to 1923, when the Valencian writer and editor Vicente Clavel Andrés proposed it to the Official Book Chamber of Barcelona to promote Spanish culture. Although his initial request failed, King Alfonso XIII approved the royal decree three years later. In this way, October 7 was set as the Book Festival in honor of the birth of Cervantes.
However, there were soon disagreements over the date. Some people saw it as more logical to honor the writer on the day of his death, since it was more precise than the day of his birth. Plus, spring seemed more appropriate for celebrating outdoor events. Thus, the Book Festival was moved in 1930 to April 23, coinciding with the celebration of Sant Jordi. In Catalonia, the tradition consisted of giving books to men and red roses to women. UNESCO would not be founded until 1945.
Book Day expanded in the following decades thanks to the International Publishers Union. Thus, with support from other countries, Spain presented the organization’s proposal in 1995 to make it official. UNESCO, which had been promoting it since 1988, approved the initiative to give more weight to the promotion of reading. It also created the “world capital of the book”, an annual title that it awards together with international organizations of publishers, booksellers and libraries. The chosen city promotes the culture of reading and disseminates its values to the national and international population through writing workshops, meetings between readers and authors or exhibitions. The first city was Madrid in 2001, and in 2024 it is Strasbourg.
Other dates, other traditions
Although UNESCO established a global date, some countries have followed their own traditions. In Latin America, Uruguay has celebrated its National Book Day since 1940 every May 26, the date on which the country’s first public library was founded in 1816. Paraguay does so on June 25 in honor of what was later considered the first patriotic historical work, by the colonial historian Ruy Díaz de Guzmán. For their part, the United Kingdom and Ireland celebrate World Book Day on the first Thursday in March. The charity of the same name, promoter of the initiative, chose the day so that it did not coincide with the Easter holidays. Thus, since 1998, each child receives a coupon that they can exchange for a book throughout the day.
