What is #BooksAndRoses?
#BooksAndRoses is a project and a hashtag created to take an ancient
tradition to the world, so that everybody can celebrate literature with a smile.
23 April is the day when books, roses and love come together in the context of
an ancient tradition celebrated in Barcelona / Catalonia that is going global: 130
international events, 102 cities, 42 countries in 2015.
Catalonia
It all started with the legend of a sainted
knight, a princess and a dragon. In the 15th
century giving a rose to the women you
love on 23 April (Sant Jordi) became a
tradition in Catalonia. In the 1920s giving a
book to the men you love was added.
15
century 1920s
th
Tradition has come a long way and nowadays it is books and roses for
everybody. At some point a group that included some Catalan publishers
approached UNESCO and in 1995 the date 23 April was proclaimed
World Book and
Copyright Day.
A “symbolic date for world literature” because it is also
the date of birth or death of many writers, i.e. William
Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, Maurice Druon,
Haldor K. Laxness, Ngaio Marsh, Vladimir Nabokov,
Victoria Glendinning, Josep Pla, Teresa de la Parra, P. L.
Travers or Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
Why and how to join
#BooksAndRoses?
Celebrate 23 April and do so by putting smiles on peoples’
faces! Combining World Book and Copyright Day with
#BooksAndRoses is a wonderful and simple way of paying
tribute to books, literature, writers and the great pleasure of
reading in general. Many bookshops (big and small) as well
as libraries in many countries have already added the spirit
of #BooksAndRoses to their local celebrations.