World Book Day Notes
- Today is World Book Day / World Book and Copyright Day, observed on April 23 to promote reading and publishing. (bankersadda.com) - UNESCO links this year’s observance to Rabat as the current World Book Capital, highlighting literacy and copyright themes. (bankersadda.com) - Coverage today favors rereading and discovery, with outlets urging rereads and spotlighting lesser-known Nobel laureate works. (moneycontrol.com)
World Book and Copyright Day is being marked on Wednesday, April 23, with UNESCO tying the 2026 observance to Rabat’s year as World Book Capital. (unesco.org) UNESCO chose April 23 for the annual observance in 1995, and the United Nations lists it as a day to promote books, reading, publishing and copyright. (un.org) Rabat was named UNESCO World Book Capital for 2026 in an announcement published on October 8, 2024, with the program set to run from April 23, 2026. UNESCO said the Moroccan capital was selected for a plan centered on literacy, sustainable publishing and wider access to books. (unesco.org) Morocco is pairing that launch with the 31st International Publishing and Book Fair, known as SIEL, in Rabat, with the World Book Capital program beginning on April 24. Local coverage said the fair would feature more than 200 events and hundreds of writers and thinkers. (kbc.co.ke) This year’s coverage has leaned less on ceremony than on reading habits. Moneycontrol’s World Book Day essay argued for rereading, saying books can change as readers age and return to them with different life experience. (moneycontrol.com) Other World Book Day roundups pushed discovery over best-seller familiarity. A Times Now list highlighted eight lesser-known books by Nobel Prize-winning authors, including Kazuo Ishiguro’s *A Pale View of Hills* and Yasunari Kawabata’s *The Sound of the Mountain*. (msn.com) UNESCO’s World Book Capital program rotates each year, with Rio de Janeiro holding the title in 2025 before Rabat in 2026. The agency said the designation is meant to keep books at the center of public policy for a full year, not just for a single day. (unesco.org) The date itself carries literary symbolism: UNESCO says April 23 was chosen because it is linked to William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. That has kept the observance anchored to authors, readers and the legal protections that govern how books circulate. (un.org)
