Tomorrow, April 23, is UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. April 23 also marks World Book Night. April 23, which is why they chose the date, is also the death date for Shakespeare (maybe even Shakespeare’s birthdate), Cervantes, and El Inca Garcilaso.
© Dowhawon & Kim, Hyo-Sup 2012/ © UNESCO
UNESCO is particularly highlighting the 80th anniversary of their Index Translationum, an index of international translations of published works. It’s pretty cool (and was actually started by The League of Nations) and sometimes surprising–Barbara Cartland, for example, is the 6th most translated author (Agatha Christie is first). Read something in translation today (for ideas see the “Interchange” column in the Winter 2011/2012 issue of Quarterly Speed Bump Magazine.
World Book Night started last year in the UK and Ireland. The US is joining in this year with a day “to bring attention to books for adult readers, with a few young adult books to be included” and “is intended to be thousands of individual interactions and celebrations of reading and giving that day.” Books are given away (it’s too late to be a book “giver” for this year) and this year’s World Book Night book list contains the following:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Blood Work by Michael Connelly
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Zeitoun by Dave Eggars
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Stand by Stephen King
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Just Kids by Patti Smith
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Go read a book!