World Book Day on 23 April 2016

World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Day) is a yearly event on 23 April. The day is organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and copyright.

"A book is a link between the past and the future. It is a bridge between generations and across cultures. It is a force for creating and sharing wisdom and knowledge.
Frank Kafka once said, “a book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul.”
A window onto our inner lives, books are also the doorway to mutual respect and understanding between people, across all boundaries and differences."

Read more at UNESCO 

Let's act on World Book and Copyright Day 2015 - Focus on Mobile

"World Book and Copyright Day is an opportunity to recognise the power of books to change our lives for the better and to support books and those who produce them."

The following Infographic about Reading in the Mobile Era shows how much reading habits have changed in the Mobile Era. 

World Book and Copyright Day is will again be celebrated on 23 April this year!

Related post:

- World Book and Copyright Day 2015 - How to join in the celebration 

World Book and Copyright day 2015 - How to join in the celebration

World Book and Copyright Day is again on 23 April 2015 this year.

UNESCO WBCD Bookmarks

UNESCO has compiled 10 ways to join in the celebration this year:

• Download books published for 70 years on UNESDOC, it's free!

• Share your passion for an author and offer his book to someone!

• Take this opportunity to discover something new from what you're used to read.

• Write a note in a book saying “Happy Book Day!” drag one of our bookmark in it, and leave it on a park bench or a metro seat!

• Give books that you are no longer using to associations.

• Print out our campaign materials and organize a book sell around your place!

• Plan local reading events in schools and libraries and encourage famous guest readers to get involved.

World Book & Copyright Day 2012 #WorldBookDay

LIASA poster: World Book Day 2012

Read Embrace Tomorrow

Today is World Book Day! It is a day of reflection and reading of books.

UNESCO describes the theme as a specific focus on books and translation this year:

"23 April is a symbolic date for world literature for on this date in 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It 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 Mejía Vallejo.
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. In this respect, UNESCO created both the World Book and Copyright Day and the UNESCO Prize for Children's and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance.
The year 2012 also marks the 80th anniversary of the Index Translationum. This international bibliography of translation provides a unique tool for the monitoring of translation flows in the world. UNESCO will celebrate this anniversary by organizing a debate on this instrument."

                                                            - UNESCO World Book Day 

Read more about the background of World Book Day.

The message from the Director-General of UNESCO can be found here, and there are resources available on the UNESCO website.
The events of World Book Day 2012 that have been planned around the world are listed as well.

The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) has made a poster available (see above), but unfortunately it seems that there are no specific events planned for today that's listed!

How should we celebrate this day?
Should we still reflect on the importance of books?
What about e-books and the proliferation of reading in the digital sphere?


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.