3 famous deaths and an enthusiastic bookseller: a brief history of why International Book Day is celebrated today

Paul Auster He said that we, the readers, “are inhabited by the books and by the writers that we have read.” That there is life, childhood, our parents, our friends, love, social relationships, yes, all of that, but for readers, books are something very important … something that inevitably constitutes us.

And this is happening today, but also always, since the beginning of literature: we are what we read.

Chance, fate wanted, that two founders of literature, both Anglo-Saxon and Spanish, as Shakespeare Yes Cervantes, died the same day. He also wanted one of the first great authors born on this continent, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, took its last breath on this date: April 23, 1616.

There are three famous deaths in the same calendar box that set a specific date to remember – in addition to doing so for the rest of the year – the importance of literature to humanity.

And he wanted – several centuries later – that an enthusiastic Spanish bookseller, Vicent Clavel Andrés, will use all its resources, economic and political, so that the Official Chamber of the Book of Barcelona approves the celebration of a Day of the Book. And he did, in 1926.

Vicent Clavel Andrés He was born in Valencia in 1888. He was a writer, translator, journalist and publisher who lived in Barcelona with the certainty that culture beats in books. That is why he promoted Hispanic-American authors and believed with great conviction that universal access to literature would generate a freer society. When he introduced the idea for Book Day, he received support from writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians and readers of the time. He died in Barcelona in 1967.

No doubt, chance, chance, fate, but also the will of this enthusiastic Spanish bookseller and those who supported him enabled Unesco to consider the appropriate date for decreeing a International Book and Copyright Day.

But to be fair, beyond the date, the actual date of death of the three perpetrators is not entirely correct: Miguel de Cervantes He died on April 22, but at that time, in the 16th century, it was customary for the date of death to be entered on the day of burial, which was the 23rd. In fact, in the historical register of the Book of Death of thus appears the Madrilenian church of San Sebastián.

For her part, the bard of Avon did indeed die on April 23, albeit on the Julian calendar, so her date – adjusted to the Gregorian calendar which is used today in most countries – would have been May 3.

For its part, the departure of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, born in Cusco, Peru, is still involved in the controversy, since according to the historian consulted it would have occurred on April 22, 23 or 24, 1616.

Of course, what is irrefutable is that already in 1930, date of the celebration that began in Catalonia by the hand of Carnation Andrés and it spread to the whole planet was set for April 23 in honor of the author of The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de La Mancha who, they discovered then, that by chance shared the day William Shakespeare.

Since then, the whole world has celebrated reading. Later, for various reasons, many countries decided to celebrate Book Day on another date. Beyond these peculiarities, everyone knows: today is International Book Day.

And what could be better than paying homage to this strange and beautiful object by reading it, entering an exotic literary world to get lost in the words that become images, sounds and smells, and knowing, moreover, that it will be part of us, the readers, forever.

KEEP READING