Every Twenty Third April each year, the World Book and Copyright Day
is celebrated around the world.

The connection between twenty third April and books was first made in
1923 by book sellers in Spain to honour the author Miguel de
Cervantes who died on that day and is observed in over one hundred
countries by a growing number of partners including voluntary
organizations, schools, public bodies, professional groups and private
businesses.

Correspondent Njideka Okoye who gave an insight on the significant of
the day reports that World Book and Copyright Day is an annual event
organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
organizations to promote reading, publishing and copyright.

In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day should
be celebrated on this date in reference to the Catalonian festival and
also as the date marks the anniversary of the birth and death of
William Shakespeare and some other authors.

For a publisher at Nkpor, Sir Nnamdi Maduagwu in a telephone
interview, there is need for the celebration to create awareness on
importance of reading, noting that publishing is facing challenges of
lack of defence against piracy and poor reading attitude among the
public.

Also in a telephone interview, an educationist and the former
Principal of Anglican Girls’ Secondary School Ogidi, Dr. Lizzy Okeke,
the celebration is to recognize the scope of books , a link between
the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across
cultures but regretted poor reading culture among the younger
generation and attributed it to use of internet.

For another publisher at Onitsha Mr. Don Udeh, the day is symbolic in
world literature which also encourage everyone to access books

This year’s program of World Book and Copyright Day focuses on four
themes, Reading in all its forms, Developingof the book industry
infrastructure, all inclusiveness and digital accessibility and
Empowerment of children through reading.

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