World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day, or International Day of the Book, is an annual observance organised by the UNESCO. World Book Day was first celebrated on April 23, 1995. As we observe World Book and Copyright Day 2020, here are interesting facts about books.


Books are said to be a person’s best friend as when there is no one to guide us, our books are always there to show us the right path in life. They always direct us to follow the moral values and principles of life. Everyone has a book which helped to change your life. A book never gives wrong advice to its reader and every book we read has a message to learn. In fact, a recent study shows that reading books has a positive impact on the brain.

When we read a book or listen to a story, the brain releases certain hormones that allow us to turn the story into our own idea and experience. This is known as ‘neuro coupling’. The brain releases ‘happy hormone’ and we start perceiving the story as our own and as a result, all the areas of the brain are activated in this process.


World Book and Copyright Day 2022 Celebration


On World Book Day, people can spend their time at home by reading a good book. Nowadays, you can also read e-books from your internet and gain knowledge about many things. In many countries, International Day of the Book is celebrated with street festivals and students performing reading on the street. You can also gift a good book to your book-loving children or friends to make the World Book Day celebration even more special.

Books are a great source of knowledge for us and they play an important role in the lives of students. Hence to make students understand the importance of books and reading and to create their interest in reading schools and colleges organize various activities and events such as essay writing, speech, debate, quiz, group discussion, fancy dress competition, free books, reading sessions on the World Books Day.


What is ‘Copyright’?

Copyright refers to the legal right of the owner of intellectual property. In simpler terms, copyright is the right to copy. This means that the creator of the intellectual property reserves the right to restrict its product from being copied without his/her consent. Under Copyright law, a work is considered as original if it is created using one’s own creativity without any duplication.

Copyright is generally restricted to ideas that can be written down in a physical form or are tangible. When a person creates an original work that can be compiled in a physical format, it automatically gets copyrighted and only the creator reserves the exclusive rights to use or transfer the work. In this case, audio-visual work, sound recordings, and musical compositions, books, paintings, etc. can be copyrighted.


Introduction of World Books and Copyrights Day

The World Books and Copyrights Day is also called as World Books Day. The basic idea to celebrate April 23 as the World Books and Copyrights Day is that this day marks the birth and death anniversary of many well-known writers, including Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Maurice Druon, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Haldor Kiljan Laxness, Manuel Mejía Vallejo, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and William Shakespeare.

Keeping the significance of this day in mind, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s General Conference held in Paris in 1995 chose this date to pay tribute to books, the authors who wrote them, and the copyright laws that protect them.

UNESCO World Book Capital 2022 Guadalajara (Mexico)


Guadalajara (Mexico) was named World Book Capital for the year 2022 by the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, on the recommendation of the World Book Capital Advisory Committee.