World Book and Copyright Day celebrated

The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes' famous book 'Don Quixote' is considered the world's first modern novel. Vicente Clavel, director of the Cervantes publishing house in Barcelona, envisaged a plan to honour the author on his birthday, October 7th, which is considered the origin of World Book Day.

However, it was later moved to April 23rd to coincide with St. George's Day in Catalonia, an autonomous community of Spain, where it is still observed with great pomp and celebration.

UNESCO, in 1995, decided to celebrate April 23rd as World Book and Copyright Day as it coincides with the death anniversaries of William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and many other renowned writers.

The day holds varying significance in different countries. For example, in Sweden, the copyright aspect is usually not emphasized; in the UK and Ireland, World Book Day is a charity event celebrated in March. On April 23rd, World Book Night is organized there by The Reading Agency, an independent charity.

In India, the day is celebrated to encourage reading, especially among children. World Book Day had over 20,000 search results on Google Trends in the past 24 hours.