As a kid, I always loved reading books. It was one of the tension-free tasks I thoroughly enjoyed. And this grew to become my hobby. Even after having kids, the magic of storytelling, which till then was undiscovered to me, became the most loved engagement. Books in themselves are the richest source of knowledge. Therefore, every year, the 23rd of April is celebrated as World Book Day to encourage people to keep reading. It is also known as the World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book. The first World Book Day was celebrated on 23 April 1995 and continues to be recognized on that day.
The original idea was conceived in 1922 by Vicente Clavel.
In 1995, UNESCO decided that World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare as well as the birth or death of several other prominent authors.
The World Book Capital (WBC) is an initiative of UNESCO that recognizes cities for promoting books and further reading for a year starting on April 23rd, World Book and Copyright Day. Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capitals carry out activities to encourage a culture of reading for all ages and share UNESCO's values.
It is celebrated in numerous countries with various names, such as Världsbokdagen in Sweden, and different activities are also held; for instance, in Kensington, Maryland, the International Day of the Book is celebrated with a street festival on a Sunday closest to the 26th of April.
Reading books is an irreplaceable productive task. It helps us enrich our vocabulary and knowledge about every field and topic. It improves us as a person, lends a hand in developing our personality, and much more. Reading also makes our thought process better and more constructive.
Let the Book be of any kind, travel, fictional, non-fiction, sci-fi, biographies, mythological autobiographies, etc. The impact it makes on our minds remains the same. It changes our point of view. We begin looking at everything with a positive perspective and a practical approach.
As it's rightly said by JK Rowling:
"I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."
As conscious citizens, it’s our duty to promote reading every single day, but if we can’t do that, let's at least try to do it on the occasion of World Book Day every year and make our community a smarter, cleverer, and wiser one.
Nandini Dixit,
CCE Finland
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