World Book Day: honouring authors and encouraging new readers

Today, April 23, is World Book and Copyright Day. The date was chosen during the 28th General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), which took place in 1995.

Its objective is to celebrate the book, encourage reading, honour authors and reflect on their legal rights. The date was chosen as a tribute to the writers Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and William Shakespeare, who died on April 23, 1616.

Currently, great works of world literature are remembered, discussed and revered. It is an opportunity to celebrate the titles of renowned authors, such as Safo, Miguel de Cervantes, Mary Shelley and Machado de Assis.

It is also a day to encourage actions with reading as the protagonist, to provoke reflection on the act of reading and authors’ rights. The book, a source of knowledge, reflection and entertainment, is a shelter for readers.

Learn a little about the authors who inspired World Book Day

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega: born in Cusco, Peru, on April 12, 1539. Then, in 1605, he published his first work in Portugal. His best-known book is “Historia General del Perú”. The writer died on April 23, 1616.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: it is estimated that he was born on September 29, 1547, in the Spanish municipality of Alcalá de Henares. The sonnet “A la Muerte de la Reina Doña Isabel de Valois”, published in 1569, was supposedly his first poetic work. However, success only came in 1605, when the writer published “El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha”. The writer died on April 23, 1616.

William Shakespeare: born in 1564, in Stratford, England, supposedly on April 23. Coincidentally, in 1616, he died, it is believed, on the same day as his birth. He wrote 38 plays, two narrative poems and 154 sonnets. His plays are known worldwide, such as: “Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “King Lear” and “Othello”. He was a poet, playwright and actor.

Books that marked me

Here, I leave suggestions for books that kept me awake at night, eager to get to the last page to find out the ending: “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Gabriel Garcia Márquez), “A Casa da Água” (Antônio Olinto), “Buracos” (Louis Sachar) and “Capitães de Areia” (Jorge Amado).

And you? What book caught your attention to the point that you didn’t want to go to bed before turning the last page?

And remember: read to a child, give a book as a gift!