Calling all bookworms, the awaited Día del Libro is back!
PHOTOS COURTESY OF INSTITUTO CERVANTES
On April 27, thousands of books with massive discounts will be up for grabs once again as Instituto Cervantes brings back the most-awaited Día del Libro (International Book Day) at the Ayala Triangle.
Instituto Cervantes, the cultural arm of the Embassy of Spain, will once again be abuzz with exciting activities to celebrate the International Book Day. Top bookstores and publishing houses will be selling a wide array of books at a 20% discount. Following the tradition in Spain, everyone who buys a book will also be given a rose.
Apart from the Book Market, there will also be a whole lot of other cultural activities, including free Spanish demo classes, meet-and-greets with award-winning authors, football games, and poetry recitals, as well as storytelling, games, and coloring activities for kids.
The evening will cap off with Posporos, a concert which brings together independent Filipino and Spanish artists. Organized by the Embassy of Spain, Instituto Cervantes, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, this edition’s participating artists are Vulk, a Basque punk band from Bilbao, Spain, and The Late Isabel, a Philippine art rock band.
Instituto Cervantes also offer a quixotic attempt: to copy Don Quixote de La Mancha by hand. To commemorate the Day of Miguel de Cervantes, Instituto Cervantes regularly holds the Rewriting of Don Quijote. Every year, around 500 book-loving volunteers to take part in this quixotic endeavor: to hand-write an excerpt from Cervantes’ timeless novel. People interested in taking part of the writing of Don Quijote can join on the same day with no prior registration. Participants in the handwriting chain will receive a rose. After years of contributions from the volunteer writers, once the hand-written book is finished, it will be deposited in the Library of Instituto Cervantes.
Instituto Cervantes will also be giving out hundreds of books, for FREE! Purchase a shirt featuring an excerpt from a Spanish poem, and not only will you get a rose, you will also get to take home a book for free.
First introduced in Manila by Instituto Cervantes in 2006, the tradition of Día del Libro began in Barcelona, Spain to celebrate Saint George’s Day (23 April), during which men and women exchanged roses and books. This date also honors two of history’s greatest writers—Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare—who both died on April 23, 1616. This significant incidence prompted the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1995 to declare April 23 as “World Book and Copyright Day” to instill a love of reading among the youth and to promote respect for the rights of authors over their literary and artistic works. April has also been declared by the NCCA as National Literature Month, as it is also the birth month of renowned Filipino poet, Francisco Balagtas.
Admission to all Día del libro activities is free on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, phone (+63 2) 526 1482, like their Facebook at Instituto Cervantes Manila, or visit <manila.cervantes.es>