RP celebrates International Book Day

International Book Day, celebrated today, April 23, originated from European countries. This is celebrated in Spain during St. George's Day, an event where women give books in exchange for the roses given by men. This is also coincidentally the same date when in 1616 Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and William Shakespeare all died.
UNESCO declared this date as the International Day of the Book in1995 and several countries have been celebrating it ever since. This has not been made an official celebration in the Philippines, but it is the goal of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila (IC) to make it a tradition in Manila's cultural calendar. Since 2006, IC has been hosting events that celebrate art, literature, and music on Día Internacional del Libro (International Book Day). This year, a three-day celebration will be held on the IC grounds starting today.

April 23 is also World Book and Copyright Day. According to UNESCO, this day "seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright." Another Philippine-sponsored event that coincides with this is the National Book Development Board's (NBDB) two-day publishing conference at University of the Philippines Baguio. It "recognizes the important function of books for the development of quality education through publishing." Dr. Oscar Campomanes of Ateneo de Manila University, Dr. Isagani Cruz of De La Salle-University, and Dr. J. Neil Garcia of the University of the Philippines are some of the Filipino writers who will participate in this event.

In line with this, POC launches Booklat, a channel that highlights news and features on books, reading, and announcements on different literary events. It currently has a survey form asking readers what they think should be included on POC's 100 Books Every Filipino Must Read Before They Die list. This project will also include suggestions from 100 Filipino writers.

Photo: Books by katmere taken from Flickr.com. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0.

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