World Book Day

World Book Day is a yearly event, celebrated on 23 April by writers and readers around the world. UNESCO organises World Book Day to promote reading, publishing, and copyright.

World Book Day

World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day (also known as the International Day of the Book) was created to increase people’s understanding of copyright laws and other measures to protect intellectual property. In the United Kingdom, the day is instead recognised on the first Thursday in March.

We celebrated World Book Day for the first time on 23 April 1995. The date is also symbolic for world literature because:

1. Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died on 23 April 1616. The Spanish celebrate Romancing The Book On World Book Day.
2. 23 April is also taken as Shakespeare’s birthday (he was baptised on 26 April 1564, and his actual date of birth is unknown).

1. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. (Julius Caesar)
2. To be, or not to be: that is the question. (Hamlet)
3. The course of true love never did run smooth. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
4. If I lose mine honour, I lose myself. (Antony and Cleopatra)
5. All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. (As You Like It)
6. Now is the winter of our discontent. (Richard III)
7. Brevity is the soul of wit. (Hamlet)
8. Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em. (Twelfth Night)
9. Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. (All’s Well That Ends)
10. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow. (Romeo and Juliet)
11. But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve. (Othello)
12. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (Hamlet)

A few fun Shakespeare facts