World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated on April 23. It’s the day designated by the UNESCO General Assembly, because it marks the anniversaries of the deaths of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare and the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.
From 2001 to the present, each year on this date, a city is designated to be the World Book Capital for one year. For 2024, the book capital of the world will be Strasbourg, France, which today takes the title from Accra, Ghana. This will happen at an official ceremony, after which the so-called Great reading in Chateau Square. By the end of April, about a hundred private and public reading places will be opened in Strasbourg.
“Reading our world” is the theme that the French city has chosen to lead while it is the World Book Capital.
Today is an occasion to remember a favorite book or to give ourselves a priceless gift – a new book. The idea is for all the people of the world to come together, look into the future and share knowledge and experience.
Part of the reading people in the world are also residents of Varna, some of whom started their day in one of the central bookstores shortly after its opening.
Right now I’m trying to give my kids what we had. Everything is becoming digital around us and I try with books to convey to them the feeling that we have received as education and as development through books, shared the mother of a 4-year-old girl whose favorite children’s book is about Franklin the turtle.
An 18-year-old had chosen The Stranger by Albert Camus. He read about this book on the Internet and decided to buy it. He thinks that the paper medium is better than the electronic one, even more so that when he sees the book in front of his eyes, he reaches out to read more often.
One of the most avid book readers is Rositsa, who told Radio Vrana that she has about 5,000 books in her home, and she has donated nearly 3,000 books to various places. She is one of those people who reads three books at a time to have a variety of genres and to prolong the reading. Currently re-reading “Notes on the Bulgarian Uprisings” by Zahari Stoyanov, “Psychology of Stupidity” and a book about emotions. She got them from the library, but if she reads a book she likes, she buys it. She also reads a lot of children’s literature for her grandchildren before giving them the books she has chosen for them. According to her, there is a lot of aggression and violence in modern children’s books.
“I’m so glad the book ending predictions didn’t come true.”the writer, journalist and translator Rosi Burdarska, who I also met in the bookstore, told Radio Varna. “Regardless of whether it is paper or electronic – the important thing is to have it. There is human thought, there is art, there is truth. I am very happy to see that many children are reading, many initiatives are being made in schools related to reading. So – happy holiday!”
Happy reading people’s holiday!
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