
Every year, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) organises World Book Day on April 23. The day is intended to promote and spread awareness on reading, copyright issues and publishing. It was first celebrated in 1995, and the date was chosen in accordance to the birth and death anniversary of William Shakespeare.
In India, different publishing houses and other establishments have come up with varied ways to mark the day. A look at how they are going about it.
Penguin Random House, India
On this day, the publishing house is launching Sudha Murty’s new book, How the Onion Got Its Layers in e-book and audiobook formats. It will be the first audio book by the author. The publishing house has also announced its collaboration with Romedy Now. They will come out with an anthology by author Ravinder Singh. Titled You Are All I Need, the stories are crowdsourced, with them reportedly receiving over 1500 entries. The cover has been launched on April 23.
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HarperCollins India
HarperCollins India will be going digital in its celebrations. They have arranged a series of Instagram live sessions with authors where discussion over varied topics like music, love, nostalgia. Authors like Ravinder Singh, Nikita Singh, Avik Chanda, Rana Safvi, Boria Majumdar, Nalin Mehta, Aanchal Malhotra, among others will take place.

Airbnb

On World Book Day, Airbnb is offering an experience that will delight all book lovers. From today, it will be giving an online experience that guests can choose from to celebrate everything literary. If you are a book lover, you can connect virtually with someone like you or even other authors. You can travel, overcome cultural differences to forge some unforgettable bonds. All this, without moving an inch. You can avail of the experience by visiting to airbnb.com/online-experience. Cities like London, Prague, San Francisco and Brooklyn are participate.
Hachette India
On World Book and Copyright Day, Hachette India has announced that best-selling author, Mitch Albom, famed for books like Tuesdays With Morrie, The Five People You Meet In Heaven will be doing a free serialisation called Human Touch. It will be a story about hope in the light of the coronavirus.
It is a fictionalised, serialised story dealing with the strange intersection of lives during the current pandemic. It will be written one week at a time and will continue till 8 weeks. One can read it by visiting his website.
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