World Book Day, celebrated on 23 April every year, is a highly symbolic date for world literature. Organised and promoted by UNESCO, the day is a global celebration of reading.

It was on this very day - 23 April 1616, that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also either the date of birth, or death, of other world-renowned authors such as Vladimir Nabokov, Maurice Druon, Haldor K. Laxness, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Joseph Pla. Naturally enough, at the General Conference held by UNESCO in Paris in 1995, the 23 April was therefore designated World Book Day.

Tribute is paid across the globe to authors and the books we have inherited from them, encouraging everyone, especially young people, to discover the joy and immense value of reading. At the same time, the event aims to cultivate a keen appreciation of those authors who have furthered humanity’s social and cultural progress.

World Book Day celebrates many sectors involved in the book industry, such as publishing houses, libraries and booksellers, and also strives to promote intellectual property rights via copyright protection. The city of Incheon in the Republic of Korea was chosen as World Book Capital 2015.

The UGR has organised an extensive range of activities in order to pay homage as part of World Book Day, ranging from a new book club launch and a bookcrossing, to conferences, debates, film screenings, book exhibitions, book launches, theatre performances, competitions and awards ceremonies.

Photo: Book fair at the Faculty of Humanities

*(Please note that the information provided in the following links is only available in Spanish)

• UGR Library events

• UGR Bookcrossing

• Faculty of Education Sciences events

• UGR's Publishing House events

• Events organised by the Romance, Italian, Galician-Portuguese, and Catalan Philology Department