The world is celebrating two important days tomorrow— April 23.
The first is: The World Book and Copyright Day.
It has been celebrated every year since 1995 to spread awareness about the benefits of reading books.
It is also observed to promote the art of reading, to celebrate books, to honour authors and to pay tributes to renowned writers, including William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who died on this day.
People are expected to take the time on this day to read on their own or read to their children.
The theme for World Book Day 2024 is “Read Your Way”.
The theme highlights the importance of reading as a source of joy and inspiration.
It is also meant to encourage children and adults to find innovative ways to engage in reading books and draw useful lessons from them.
The second celebration is: The English Language Day.
April 23 is traditionally observed as both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet.
He contributed 1,700 words to the English language because he was the first author to write them down.
As well as inventing completely new words, Shakespeare used existing words in inventive ways. For example, he was the first person to use ‘friend’ as a verb as well as ‘unfriended’ (in Twelfth Night) and from ‘gloom’ he invented the word ‘gloomy’ (in Titus Andronicus).
William Shakespeare played a major role in the transformation of the English language. Many words and phrases were first written down in his plays.
The theme for the English Language Day 2024 is: “Using Technology for Multilingual Learning: Challenges and Opportunities“.
Source: Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org
