Happy Book day! And Spanish language day! And Saint George’s!<\/p>\n
You may be aware of the fact that William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on the same day: April 23rd 1616 (well, there are discrepancies due to the use of different calendars at the time, but let’s assume.) This is the reason why we celebrate the International Book Day on this date. The UNESCO chooses one city around the planet to be the World Book Capital <\/a>every year, and 2015 goes to Incheon in South Korea. The city has an interesting program to promote reading among young people and underprivileged parts of the population,\u00a0something the UNESCO wanted to recognize with this nomination.<\/p>\n In Spain and Latin America, we also take this day to praise our language, Spanish<\/a>, or Castilian as it is known in many countries west of the Atlantic Ocean. The Instituto Cervantes organizes many activities around this date to remember the figure of Miguel de Cervantes, author of the unparalleled Don Quixote<\/em>. On this date 400 years ago, the second part of this incredibly funny novel was published, so the Instituto Cervantes\u00a0opened an exhibition on Don Quixote<\/em> and its translators, who have helped make this character famous\u00a0across the planet. You can find more information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you have not had enough celebrations on one day, you can still jump to Catalonia, where Saint George’s day (Sant Jordi<\/em>, in Catalan) is a huge popular festivity including books, roses and masses of people walking the streets while looking for a gift to make their dear ones. You can catch a glimpse of the spirit of the day in this video by Barcelona City Council.<\/p>\n