April 23: World Book Day

Every year, World Book Day or International Day of Book or World Book and Copyrights Day is organised by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Highlights

The World Book Day is being celebrated since 1995. The idea of World Book Day was given a writer Vicente Clavel Andres to celebrate World Book Day on the death anniversary of author Miguel de Cervantes.

Initially his birthdate October 7 was proposed. But as the death anniversaries of William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega also falls on April 23, the later was selected.

However, in reality Shakespeare died 10 days after Cervantes. This was because when the legends lived, Spain used Gregorian calendar and England used Julian Calendar.

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish writer. He was well known for the classic western literature “Don Quixote”. He lived in 17^th century. He was a soldier, poet, novelist, tax collector and a playwright. He was forced to leave Spain and hence he worked as a cardinal in Rome.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2020