World Book and Copyright Day 2020- History, Purpose, Celebrations and Quiz

International days are marked to educate the public on issues of concern, to address global problems and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. Each international day provides the community an opportunity to organize activities related to the theme and to create public awareness on the same. Organizations, governments, public and private sectors, schools, universities and citizens make international day a springboard for awareness raising actions. In this article let us check on the observation of World Book and Copyright Day 2020 and its history, purpose, celebrations and quiz.

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World Book and Copyright Day 2020 – April 23

In this article readers can get a glimpse on

• History and purpose of world book and copyright day
• World book capital 2020 and its objectives
• List of World book capital from 2001-2021
• Let books be a pathway to hope during this covid – 19 pandemic
• How To Contribute Towards The Observation Of World book and copyright Day
• Books and authors Quiz

History and Purpose of World Book and Copyright Day

World book day was first celebrated on April 23, 1995. April 23 is a symbolic date for world literature. April 23 is a date that marks the death of many famous authors like William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. Hence to pay a tribute to these prominent authors and books this date April 23 was selected by UNESCO in a general conference held at Paris in the year 1995 as World Book and copyright day.

The purpose of this day is to

• Pay tribute to authors, books and copyright laws that protect them.
• To respect the authors who have made irreplaceable contributions to social and cultural progress
• To increase the understanding and adherence to copyright laws among the society and to protect intellectual copyright.
• To encourage the world to cherish books as the valuable tool for knowledge sharing, mutual understanding and openness to diversified world.
• To promote the importance of reading, to recognize the magical power of books and to encourage people to discover the pleasure of reading.

World Book capital 2020 and its Objectives: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The success of World Book and Copyright Day encouraged UNESCO to develop the concept of World Book Capital City, selecting Madrid as the Capital for 2001. This was again a success, and so UNESCO’s General Conference resolved to make the designation of a World Book Capital City an annual event.

This year 2020  the city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was selected as the world book capital because of the strong focus on inclusive education, the development of a knowledge based society  and for the accessible reading for all parts of city’s population.

With the slogan “KL Baca – caring through reading”, the program focuses on four themes:

• Reading in all its forms,
• Development of the book industry infrastructure,
• Inclusiveness and digital accessibility,
• Empowerment of children through reading.

Activities included at the World book Capital for 2020

• Construction of a book city (the Kota Buku Complex),
• A reading campaign for train commuters,
• The enhancing of digital services and accessibility by the National Library of Malaysia for the disabled
• New digital services for libraries in 12 libraries in poor housing areas of Kuala Lumpur.

List of World Book Capital – The year, City and Country

The following cities have been designated as World Book Capitals from 2001 to 2021:

Let books be a pathway to hope during this Covid – 19 pandemic

This time of pandemic has created a chaos all around the world with social distancing and many other sorrows.

So this is the best time to involve yourself in reading books and travel beyond imaginations.

Consider book as a pathway to hope during the time of despair as:

• Books will let you connect to thoughts despite the distance
• Books will help you travel beyond imagination
• Utilizing your creativity in writing articles, stories and poems will help in building your skills and keeping you occupied during this time

Use the hashtag #StayAtHome and #WorldBookDay to testify and express your love for reading.

How to Contribute Towards the Observation of World Book and Copyright Day

Following are the activities that can be followed throughout your life as reading a book is one gem of an activity that can be included in day to day life.

• Introduce books to children from childhood, that way their imaginative skills also will be developed.
• Enroll in online library as the current isolation period restricts you to visit a library
• Pass the old book to someone so that it can be read by many.
• Form a book club and daily assign books to the members to read. That way you can promote reading habits.
• Share or narrate the story of the book you read to others. That way you can develop your communication skills as well.
• Provide platform for young minds to write creatively buy allowing them to think and jot down their own words and sentences.
• Parents can read out loud at home with demonstrative narration thus making it interesting for children to listen. This way child will develop listening skills too.
• Set up a reading corner at home or work place with wide range of books that can keep you engaged during free time.
• Introduce character or book themed activities at school and home to help children understand the ideas and values shared through a good book

Books and Authors Quiz

1. Who is the author of the book ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’?

• Thomas Hardy
• Emile Zola
• George Orwell
• Walter Scott

2. Who wrote the Book “Gandhi and Stalin”?

• Raj Narayan
• Louis Fisher
• Anita Desai
• S.Naipaul

3. Which of the following is not written by Munshi Premchand?

• Gaban
• Godan
• Manasorovar
• Guide

4. Which of the books is written by Kapil Dev?

• One day Wonders
• Cricket – My Style
• Twenty Years at the top
• Cricket-Favourite Game

 5. Who is the author of ‘Death in The Castle’?

• Thomas Mann
• H.P Nanda
• Pearl S. Buck
• John Gunther

6. Who is the author of “Unhappy India”?

• Vikram Seth
• Lala Lajpath Roy
• Chethan Bhagath
• None

7. My Music, My Life’s is the autobiography of  

• Pt ShivkumarSharma
• Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
• Pt Ravi Shankar
• Ustad Zakir Hussain

8. Who wrote the book The Origin of Species?  

• Sir Alexander Fleming
• Louis Pasteur
• Charles Darwin
• Stephen Hawking

9. Author of The Diary of a young girl is

• Rachel Carson
• Roland Barthes
• Anne Frank
• Ibn Battuta

10. David Copperfield is the name of a

• Famous Actor
• Novel
• Poem
• Writer

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