Today, 2nd March 2023 marks the celebration in the U.K. of books. World Book Day is a day on which both children and adults alike can have lots of fun sharing their love of reading. For children, they particularly enjoy dressing up as their favourite book characters from superheroes, to iconic leaders, princesses and even animal characters too.
Children delight in telling their friends about their costumes and often take a book into school or a home education group to share why they love that book / character. On World Book Day, tokens are given out to enable children to buy affordable books and continue their love of reading.
Want to know about the background to World Book Day and its significance?
Please read on!
Although the date to celebrate World Book Day varies between countries, the date of 23rd April was chosen as the international date, for its significance in the literature world. Created in 1995 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the 23rd April marks the day that distinguished authors William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Miguel de Cervantes all died.
What a wonderful way to pay tribute to these writers and inspire future generations1
Furthermore, UNESCO partners with organisations, shareholders and more to promote not only a love of reading but the importance of literacy and access to books for all communities regardless of background.
Here is a quote from Audrey Azoulay - the Director-General of UNESCO.
"Indeed, books are vital vehicles to access, transmit and promote education, science, culture and information worldwide."
UNESCO also organises events to encourage cities to advocate for World Book Day and keep the celebrations going. For example, each year a capital city is nominated to be World Book Capital. In 2022, Guadalajara in Mexico was named World Book Capital.
The first city was Madrid, Spain back in 2001. This year, Accra in Ghana has been named as UNESCO’s World Book Capital 2023.
In the U.K. and Ireland, the charity - World Book Day - shares its love of reading and desire to promote literacy for all by offering book clubs, competitions, activity packs etc. It also celebrates authors and illustrators and partners with the National Literacy Trust to get the word out.
According to the World Book Day charity…
“Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income.
We want to see more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them.”
HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY!
