April 23rd - International World Book Day

The World Book Day is a day organized by UNESCO to be held at international level in order to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.

Why April 23rd?

You should know that the choosing of April 23rd as World Book and Copyright Day, comes from the coincidence of the deaths of three essential writers in the history of literature such as Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and "The Inca" Garcilaso de la Vega on the same date, April 23rd, 1616.

Although we could add a small rider about it, since the three deaths really did not happen on the same day, because the Shakespeare's death date belong to the Julian calendar, which would be May the 3rd in the Gregorian calendar and Cervantes died on the 22nd and was buried on 23.

In addition, April the 23rd also happens to be the date of the death of William Wordsworth (1850) and Josep Pla (1981). The proposal was presented by the Unesco International Publishers, with the aim of promoting culture and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. On November 15th, 1995 the UNESCO General Conference approved the proposal in Paris, from which on April 23rd would be the "International Day of Book and Copyright." (Fundación de la Lengua Española)