World Book and Copyright Day 2018

 “World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the magical power of books - a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. On this occasion, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry - publishers, booksellers and libraries, select a city as the World Book Capital to maintain, through its own initiatives, the impetus of the Day’s celebrations until 23 April of the following year.” (UNESCO web page).  This year Athens has been designated World Book Capital.

It is worth recalling that “23 April is a symbolic date in world literature. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. This date was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone to access books - most beautiful invention for sharing ideas beyond the boundaries of humanity space and time as well as the most powerful forces of poverty eradication and peace building.”  (UNESCO web page).

The 2018 edition is entitled “READING, it's my right!”, and it will be an opportunity to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A book which has recently been punished in Spanish caught my attention a few days ago: Vivir bien la vida, that´s  the title in Spanish but the book already existed in English as: Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination. Why shoud I mention this book now? First of all, because the author is J.K. Rowling  and she is one of those writers whose literary work is inextricably linked to the film industry and secondly because this book is based on the speech that she gave to Harvard University students in 2008 and after having read her speech, I can´t resist making a recommendation: it is one of the most inspiring and meaningful speeches that I have ever read. So, this is my recommendation for today but as usual read what you feel like reading, watch the films that you enjoy watching and above all, enjoy the day!!!

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”  (from J.K. Rowling´s speech)