Spain's Don Quijote marathon
- A marathon reading of Don Quijote anchored Spain’s local World Book Day programming this weekend. (hoy.es) - The festival also staged storytelling for children and a mixed-music reading event called “El cuento entre canciones.” (hoy.es) - The events framed World Book Day as a family and live‑culture push rather than a single national campaign. (hoy.es)
Badajoz is marking World Book Day week with a marathon reading of *Don Quijote* at its city museum, making Cervantes the centerpiece of a four-day local festival. (hoy.es) The program runs from April 23 to April 26, 2026, at the Museo de la Ciudad Luis de Morales, and it is organized by Badajoz City Hall’s culture department with the museum. The reading marathon is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 23. (elperiodicoextremadura.com) Organizers also scheduled a children’s storytelling session, a family card-game activity and a reading-with-music event titled *El cuento entre canciones*. Local coverage described the lineup as programming for “all ages,” not a single ceremony or book fair. (radiointerior.es) The date matters in Spain because April 23 is both the Día del Libro and UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. UNESCO says the annual observance is meant to promote books and reading across age groups and across society. (unesco.org) Spain has a particular claim on that calendar. The modern Spanish book day began in the 1920s as a tribute to Miguel de Cervantes, and the celebration was moved to April 23 in 1930, the date associated with Cervantes’ death. (wikipedia.org) That helps explain why a public reading of *Don Quijote* still works as civic programming in 2026. Cervantes’ novel remains Spain’s best-known literary export, and marathon readings turn a long, difficult classic into a shared live event. (iamquixote.com) Badajoz’s edition is not starting from page one. An event listing says the XIX, or 19th, reading marathon will continue from the point where last year’s session stopped, giving the city an ongoing annual relay through the novel. (grada.es) UNESCO’s wider World Book Day model is decentralized, with cities and institutions building their own events around the same date. In 2026, UNESCO names Rabat as World Book Capital, but Badajoz’s program shows how the day is often carried by municipal museums, local officials and family audiences rather than by one national campaign. (unesco.org) So the story in Badajoz is not only that *Don Quijote* is being read again on April 23. It is that a 17th-century novel is still being used, chapter by chapter, to fill a city museum with children, families and live performers for World Book Day week. (hoy.es)
