World Book and Copyright Day: April 23rd

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CELEBRATE READING!

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World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading.

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[source]

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2017 is apparently the twentieth anniversary of the FIRST World Book Day. (Note: a later quotation identifies 1995 as the beginning, hence 22nd anniversary.)

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Amazon, the leading giant of eBook sales world-wide, celebrates World Book Day and encourages use of the hashtag: #LovetoRead.

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World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on April 23rd, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and copyright. In the United Kingdom, the day is recognized on the first Thursday in March. World Book Day was celebrated for the first time on 23 April 1995. [source]

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WHY APRIL 23RD?

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23 April is a symbolic date for world literature. It is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. aIt is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Meja Vallejo.

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It was a natural choice for UNESCO’s General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.

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[source]

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How will you mark World Book and Copyright Day?

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Use #LovetoRead
Loan a favorite book (digital or paperback/hardback)
Discuss a title you’ve read with another reader
Write a book review
Thank an author
Visit a public library
Blog about books that have impacted your life
Start a Book Club
Invite friends over for a One-Time Book Club (and see if it develops into more)
Buy an e-Reader
Download an app for eBooks onto your mobile device
Promote titles you’ve loved on social media
Reread a long-time favorite title
Schedule time to read
Read in the bathtub
Just today–World Book Day–turn off the TV and read, instead
Visit a brick-and-mortar book store and browse
Browse an eBookstore and pick up one book outside of your usual favorite genres
Read to a child
Read to an elderly person
Donate to your local public library
Encourage your children to read
Open an account on Goodreads and write simple, brief reviews of the last couple books you read