World Book Day

Reports of the death of the printed book in the face of the e-book revolution are greatly exaggerated. As the World celebrates the World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book World Book Day) on April 23, it is time to reflect on the significance of the printed word in all its forms.

This day is organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. The Day was first celebrated in 1995.

The history behind the Book Day is rather interesting.

The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day. This became a part of the celebrations of the Saint George's Day (also 23 April) in Catalonia, where it has been traditional since the medieval era for men to give roses to their lovers and since 1925 for the woman to give a book in exchange. Half the yearly sales of books in Catalonia are at this time with over 400,000 sold and exchanged for over 4 million roses.

In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date because of the Catalonian festival and because the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of several other noted writers including William Shakespeare.

While the World Book Day is celebrated widely in most European countries, it is yet to catch on in Sri Lanka. Most countries also celebrate the International Children's Book Day on April 2. Thus April can be considered as a Book Month along with September, known in Sri Lanka as Literary Month. But the lack of attention given to these events is a major lacuna in our education system. There should be a programme to encourage reading among schoolchildren and what better way than a day or two dedicated to the printed word ?

We can literally take a leaf out of the UK when it comes to promoting books. The World Book Day UK encompasses many initiatives such as Spread The Word, Quick Reads Initiative and Books for Hospitals. Every year, the number of children receiving a free 1 World Book Day Book Token has increased. In 2000, instead of a single 1 special anthology, four separate 1 books were published, covering a wider age-range. Since then, each year has seen a new set of special 1 books published.

It is time that such initiatives are commenced here with the participation and/or sponsorship of leading book publishers in the country. The books should be made available to children in all three languages, depending on their language stream. School and municipal libraries islandwide must be strengthened. New libraries must be built where none exists.

Many households have hundreds of books which they will probably never read again. Many of these books can be donated to school libraries, especially in the provinces. A mechanism should be formulated to enable such book donations by individuals and organisations.

There are also non-profit international organisations such as Room to Read, which operate in emerging nations including Sri Lanka. Room to Read works with partners worldwide to provide new English books to children. They particularly seek picture books for young children who can't yet read, simple children's storybooks, ABC and 123 books, or anything suitable to teaching young children the English language, hard cover books that are thick and durable and educational books that are fun - science, geography, math, world history. Individuals and companies could work with such organisations to provide books to a large number of children in the country.

But schools and parents face a huge challenge in convincing children to read mainly in the backdrop of the dominance of television, computers and other electronic gizmos. Television is a passive experience that leaves little to the imagination. While there are educational programmes on television, they somehow lack that unique feeling which one gets by reading a book.

Thus authors and publishers have another challenge on their hands making their children's books more interesting and interactive than the television, videos and video games. Sinhala and Tamil publishers can turn to English children's books for inspiration in this regard. However, parents can and should encourage their children to read on the PC, Kindle or a tablet device such as iPad/Galaxy Tab if that takes their fancy. It really does not matter whether you read a so-called dead-wood book or an electronic book as long as the all-important mission of reading is accomplished.

Making books affordable is another challenge facing the industry. An imported English book (UK) costs nearly Rs. 1000 on average while even a local Sinhala or Tamil local book costs around Rs.400. Children's books are somewhat cheaper, but there are many parents who cannot afford them. The authorities must thus explore the possibility of financing/subsidizing the publication of a selected number of books per year in all three languages, as in the example from the UK mentioned elsewhere in this column. This also brings into focus the importance of strengthening libraries at school and village level so that even expensive or hard to find books could reach the country's entire populace. Libraries should regularly publicise the latest books and magazines they have received for browsing or lending.

One should not under-estimate the role played by magazines and newspapers in the context of reading. They may not have the same appeal as books, but there are many articles in newspapers other than news per se, which both children and adults could read and learn from. Reading itself is a learning process. Reading builds up one's vocabulary, the fluency of a given language and almost unwittingly, knowledge about the wider world. It helps children to move away from their syllabi and learn more facts about the world they live in. Adults too can benefit similarly. The World Book Day is thus a golden opportunity to reflect on the vast benefits of reading and add some more books to our reading list.