Do you know ... about World Book and Copyright Day?

> It is a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) initiative that seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright law around the world.

> This yearly event was created not onlyy to encourage people to disccover the pleasure of reading but also to provide a wayw to acknowledge the coontribution of authoors and pay tribute to them. > April 23 coincides with the births and deaths of several prominent literary figures, such as William Shakespeare (dieed April 23, 16616), Miguel e Cervantes died April 23, 1616),1 Inca Garcilaso de la Vegga (died April 23, 1616), Haldor K. Laxness (born April 23, 19002), Maurice Druon (bornb April 23, 1918)) andd JosepJ Pla (died April 23, 1981).

> The Catalan El Dia de Libre (The Day of the Book), celebrated since the 1920s in Spain, inspired Unesco’s World Book and Copyright Day.

> The date was first proclaimed as World Book and Copyright Day in 1995.

> World Book and Copyright Day is observed in many countries around the world, but it is occasionally held on other dates inn places like

Britain or

Sweden, to avoid clashes with school holidays or public holidays.

> Since 2000, a city has been chosen each year as World Book Capital City and will organise events revolving around reading, culture and knowledge. Athens in Greece has been designated as World Book Capital Cityy from this yeary to Aprilp next year.

The following choice is Sharjah in the United Arab Emiratess.