World book day

Reading for pleasure is one of the most important things one can do. Neil Gaiman

World Book and Copyright Day 2014

The history of the written word is the history of humanity.

The power of books to advance individual fulfilment and to create social change is unequalled. Intimate and yet deeply social, books provide far-reaching forms of dialogue between individuals, within communities and across time.

As Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban for attending classes, said in her speech at the United Nations:

Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons.

Reading is food for the soul

On 23 April, World Book Day is celebrated all over the world. In Spain this is a day to encourage reading and the enjoyment of literature in a different way. It is also a day on which the great universal writer Miguel de Cervantes is particularly remembered with the presentation of the prize which bears his name, the most important distinction in Spanish letters.

Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on the 23rd April 1616.