International Day of the Book

International Day of the Book or World Book Day is a yearly event on April 23rd, organized by the  UNESCO, to promote reading, publishing and copyright.

World Book Day was celebrated for the first time on 23rd April 1995.

The connection between 23rd April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Catalonia, Spain.

The original idea was of the Valencian writer Vicente Clavel Andrés as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes, first on October 7, his birth date, then on April 23rd, his dead date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors.

In a historical coincidence, Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same date — 23rd

April 1616 — but not on the same day, as at the time, Spain used the Gregorian calendar and England used the Julian calendar; Cervantes actually died 10 days before Shakespeare did.


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Book_Day