Happy World Book Day!📚🦉
World Book Day, initiated in 1995 by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), is an annual celebration held on April 23rd to highlight the importance of reading and literature. 📖
April 23rd is also an important date in literature, as it is the agreed upon date that a number of notable authors died. These authors include William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
As the New York Times notes,
“… the same date didn’t necessarily mean the same day. At the time Cervantes died, his home country, Spain, operated under the Gregorian calendar, the one that most of the world uses today. It was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.
But Shakespeare’s England, a Protestant country, still followed the Julian calendar. It didn’t adopt the Gregorian version until 1752. So April 23 in Shakespeare’s day would have been May 3 in ours.”
Rainy days like today are the perfect time to grab a book and enjoy the beauty of the written word. Happy reading! 🙂
For more information on UNESCO and World Book and Copyright Day, click the following link: http://bit.ly/wbdinfo