An appeal "to the member states, the partners and friends of Unesco" to work so that "the role of books and reading will be fully acknowledged to the benefit of a world which even in practice may call itself multilingual". This is what Koichiro Matsuura, general manager of the UN education, science and culture organisation, said today, the 13th Books and Royalties Day. Proclaimed in 1996 by Unesco, the 2008 Book Day, to coincide with the World Day of Languages, with the participation of publishers, libraries, schools, cultural centres and authors’ associations from over one hundred countries, is dedicated to the future of the book as a carrier of linguistic expression and recognition. "When a language has no longer access to the publishing world warns Matsuura , it is cast out, along with those who speak it, of a large part of the intellectual life and economic activity of society. From such perspective, it is urgent to guarantee that languages have more access to publication, to promote the exchange of books and published contents". Today, Amsterdam replaces Bogota as the "world capital of books". April 23rd commemorates the death of William Shakespeare in 1616, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
