World Book and Copyright Day 2026, April 23rd.

FORUM: "The power of books." World Book and Copyright Day 2026. The Activities will include readings of books and plays; the distribution of bookmarks; the announcement of the winners of literary competitions. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #reading, #WorldBookDay, #CopyrightDay, #WorldBookCapitalCity #23april, #WorldBookandCopyrightDay.

EVENTS: April 23rd marks World Book and Copyright Day 2026. For Africa, the occasion highlights the journey of its literature, the struggles of its authors, and the continent's growing contribution to global storytelling.During the day, we will explore the status of books in Africa in a digital era that has largely re-written information consumption. We also share a selection of African books worth reading. Watch the documentary entitled'' Turning pages in a digital age.''

Every year, as part of celebrations for World Book and Copyright Day, a World Book Capital is selected by UNESCO and international organizations representing the major sectors of the book industry – publishers, booksellers and libraries. Selected cities promote books and reading for all age groups and across all of society, in the host country and beyond. To date, UNESCO has designated 26 World Book Capitals, from Madrid, Spain, in 2001, to Rabat, Morocco, in 2026.

In a recent statement, UNESCO highlighted Rabat's commitment to fostering the book industry and encouraging reading through its 54 publishing houses; it also hosts Africa's third-largest international book fair. Rabat aims to come up with various initiatives to improve access to books, bolster the local publishing sector, and advance literacy among all age groups and demographics, both nationally and internationally.

The statement added that the celebrations are set to commence on April 23, 2026, coinciding with the World Book and Copyright Day.  As Rabat Opens Book Capital Year, Minister Says Books Shape Society Morocco’s Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation said the launch of the new Rabat book fair edition comes at a defining cultural moment, as the capital begins its year as UNESCO’s “World Book Capital 2026.”.

“The book is the basis, the source and the starting point of science and knowledge,” the minister told Morocco World News (MWN), arguing that books shape students’ scientific, critical, and analytical thinking while also supporting “psychological balance, intellectual balance and social balance.”
He said Rabat fully deserves the international recognition, describing the Moroccan capital as one of the most beautiful capitals in the world and stressing that the title should serve as more than a symbolic distinction.
The minister also said promoting books cannot remain the job of schools alone. He called on families, universities, civil society groups, and Moroccans at large to help build a stronger culture of reading and writing from an early age, saying that preserving Morocco’s identity and civilization depends on giving books the place they deserve.

Throughout the year, the city will host a wide range of cultural programs, public readings, and community-driven initiatives aimed at making literature more accessible to all.

Statement of the Director of the UNESCO Office in the Caribbean on World Book and Copyright Day 2026, April 23rd.

World Book and Copyright Day invites us to return to something both simple and essential. The role of books in how we think, learn, and imagine the world. Even as our daily lives become increasingly digital, books remain a unique space of depth and continuity. They slow us down in a useful way. They allow ideas to unfold over time rather than in fragments. Whether in print or digital form, they remain one of the most powerful tools for education, cultural memory, and critical reflection. The digital age has of course transformed how we access knowledge. Information is now immediate, abundant, and global. This brings enormous opportunities. More voices can be published, more readers can be reached, and knowledge can circulate more freely than ever before. But it also brings challenges. Attention is more fragmented. Information can be more volatile. And not all content carries the same level of verification or depth.
In this context, books continue to offer a reference point, a space where ideas are structured, curated, and often more carefully developed. Rather than seeing books and digital media as opposites, it is perhaps more useful to see them as complimentary. Digital platforms can expand access to reading, especially in places where physical books are less available. At the same time, the book form, whether printed or electronic,still provides a discipline of thought that remains vital in an age of rapid consumption. This is why initiatives such as the world book capital are so meaningful.
Each year, UNESCO designates a city for its commitment to books and reading and for its efforts to strengthen the entire ecosystem that supports them from authors and publishers to libraries and readers.
This year, the world book capital is Rabbat in Morocco. It is a city with a rich intellectual tradition and a vibrant cultural life and its designation reflects a broader commitment to literacy, creativity, and dialogue.

In celebrating World Book and Copyright Day, we are not only celebrating books as objects. We are celebrating the ecosystems they sustain and the ways in which they continue to anchor reflection, imagination, and shared understanding even in a deeply digital world.

Director of the UNESCO Office in the Caribbean.

At UNOV; To celebrate the World Book and Copyright Day 2026, the IAEA, UNOV, and CTBTO will jointly host a variety of in-person and virtual events on April 23rd. See below for the agenda or to register to attend. We look forward to your participation! 

23 April 2026 --- 09:30 – 10:30 Tour IAEA Archives IAEA Meeting Point A04 Elevators.
10:30 – 11:00 Presentation From metadata to full text: how INIS delivers nuclear knowledge worldwide Ms Olga Vakula (IAEA) F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library & Online

11:15 – 12:00 Daughters’ day event.
Chinese calligraphy workshop (only for registered daughters) IAEA F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library
11:30 – 14:00 Event Meet and Greet IAEA Publishing Section and Archives, UNOV, CTBTO libraries IAEA, CTBTO, UNOV A Building ground floor & Cafeteria
12:00 – 13:00 Event Library Tour & Meet and Greet the Library and INIS Teams IAEA F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library
14:00 – 14:30 Opening Remarks  IAEA DDG-NE and DDG-MT
UNESCO Representative Ms Klara Koštal, Head of Department: Diversity of Cultural Expressions  F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library
14:30 – 15:15 Talk Future Needs Wisdom: a personal view on the future of research under the spell of AI Prof. Helga Nowotny F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library
15:15 – 15:45 Closing World Book and Copyright Day Remarks followed by light refreshments IAEA F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library

Schedule of World Book and Copyright Week 2026; Tuesday April 23rd.

09:30 – 10:30 (Meeting Point A04 Elevators)
Tour - IAEA Archives.

Tour - IAEA Archives The IAEA Archives are a pillar of the IAEA’s institutional memory, spanning over 70 years and comprising over 10,000 shelf metres of hard-copy records and 10 terabytes of data. These walking tours are an opportunity to look behind the scenes to:

Experience the size and composition of the IAEA Archives;
Interact with some of the treasures in our holdings and be inspired by the Agency's history;
View the Reading Room and an archival repository, and learn about challenges in preservation and access management; and Hear how the Department of Management oversees the IAEA Archives.

The tour can accommodate 15 participants. Meeting point : A04 Elevators. Click here to register

10:30 – 11:00 (F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library & Online)
From metadata to full text: how INIS delivers nuclear knowledge worldwide
Olga Vakula – INIS

How do you access hard-to-find nuclear research from around the world? Discover how INIS connects users to nuclear knowledge, providing extensive metadata and helping locate full texts through international collaboration with Member States and partner libraries. Click here to register.

12:00 – 13:00 (F0146 - IAEA Lise Meitner Library)
Tour and Meet & Greet

Come along for a tour of the IAEA Lise Meitner Library and discover the space, the history and facts that might surprise you. The reading rooms and library are open to anyone in the VIC, join the tour to discover your next favourite place in the building!

The tour can accommodate 15 participants. Click here to register (for the tour only)

11:30 – 14:00 (A Building, Cafeteria)
Meet & Greet Information Professionals from IAEA & UNOV & CTBTO.

Get to know your librarians from the VBOs in the cafeteria and publishers from the IAEA on the ground floor of the A building. In addition to providing information on our services, there will also be an opportunity to view a few special items from our collections.

14:00 – 14:30 (F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library)
Welcome Remarks.

World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated every year on April 23rd. Come hear about the meaning of this day for VBO libraries, archives, and publishing units. We will be joined by IAEA DDG-NE, M. M. Chudakov and DDG-MT, M. Doane and UNESCO representative Ms Klara Koštal, Head of Department: Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

14:30 – 15:15 (F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library)
Talk: Future Needs Wisdom: a personal view on the future of research under the spell of AI.
Prof. Helga Nowotny will share her thoughts and insights on Artificial Intelligence, followed by a thought-provoking discussion on Women in STEM. A discussion moderated by Brain Bales (IAEA INIS) and Anastasia Lazykina, (IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme). Click here to register

15:15 – 15:45 (F0146 – IAEA Lise Meitner Library)
Closing - World Book & Copyright Day.

After the talk with Prof. Helga Nowotny, there will be a small reception to celebrate and close the World Book and Copyright Day festivities. Please join us for some light refreshments.

For more information please contact us!, Click here to play the wordle of the day! and See the World Book Day EUREST menu on April 23rd 2026 here!

World Book and Copyright Day 2025; April 23rd.

FORUM: “Exploring the world: One page turn at a time.” World Book and Copyright Day 2025. Books have the power to transport us to new worlds, broaden our horizons, and promote open and inclusive societies. For this occasion let’s highlight the Copyright and Related Rights of authors. The UNESCO Regional offices invite students, teachers, and readers from around the world, as well as the whole book industry and library services, to testify and express their love for reading. Activities will include readings of books and plays; the distribution of bookmarks; the announcement of the winners of literary competitions. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #reading, #WorldBookDay, #CopyrightDay,#WorldBookCapitalCity #23april, #WorldBookandCopyrightDay.

EVENTS: At UNESCO Headquarters; On april 23rd, to mark the World Book and Copyright Day 2025; A symposium will be hold. The UNESCO World Book Capital for 2025 is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The designation was announced by the UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay. The year of celebrations will start on April 23rd, on World Book and Copyright Day 2025 with the opening of the World Book Capital. The city will host the Unesco "World Book Capital" label, awarded each year to a city that is committed to promoting books and reading in all its forms. UNESCO and the World Book Capital Advisory Committee commended Rio de Janeiro’s demonstration of the importance of its literary heritage alongside a clearly defined vision and action plan to promote literature, sustainable publishing and reading among young people tapping into digital technologies. This is the first time that a Portuguese-speaking city has been designated World Book Capital. In line with priorities expressed in the World Book Capital Charter, Rio de Janeiro conceives its project as having the ability to affect social change – through, for example, literacy, education and poverty eradication – and bring sustainable economic benefit linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Register to Participate!

ACTIVITIES: Join the community of readers for the World Book Day bookfaceChallenge! In such circumstances, we invite students, teachers, readers from around the world as well as the book industry and library services to testify and express their love for reading by participating to this challenge. Register to participate to the event.

WEBINARS: The right technology can remove barriers to knowledge. For example the Technology from Sage is a curated suite of library technologies that advance teaching, learning and research - from managing reading lists to discovering online resources and reference management. Request a demo!

Librarian Futures Part I: Reading and authoring

Give library patrons an easy and intuitive way to discover, read, annotate, write and share research with an award-winning online reference management tool. With intuitive and customizable features that enable collaboration, Sciwheel is where research comes together.


Librarian Futures Part II: The Knowledge Gap Between Librarians and Students.

Read the new report in our Librarian Futures series that shares research findings about contrasting librarian and student perspectives on the undergraduate workflow.


Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape.

Read the latest report in our Librarian Futures series which explores insights from over 2,000 academic library professionals on actionable strategies for skills and career development.

STATEMENTS: ‘‘After all, behind every book there is an entire chain of know-how and skills which has led to its creation. On this day, UNESCO invites you not only to celebrate reading and culture, but also to make a commitment to their support. ‘‘ Read the message of the UNESCO Director-General, on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day 2025, April 23rd in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.

PUBLICATION: UNESCO's World Book Policy and its Impacts. In order to promote the pleasure of books and reading, UNESCO is organizing a collection of books for the benefit of Libraries Without Borders (LWB), an NGO which helps to promotes access for vulnerable populations to education, culture and information. Learn more about the Books for All: a Programme of Action.

World Book and Copyright Day 2022; April 23rd.

FORUM: Storytelling is an incredibly effective tool when it comes to educating younger generations. Indeed, books are vital vehicles to access, transmit and promote education, science, culture, and information worldwide.

EVENTS: On World Book and Copyright Day, UNESCO calls on its partners to share the message that books are a force to address contemporary challenges, to understand political and economic realities, and to combat inequalities and misinformation.

Guadalajara is UNESCO World Book Capital 2022, together let's join the official ceremony.

Guadalajara (Mexico) was named World Book Capital for the year 2022 by the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, on the recommendation of the World Book Capital Advisory Committee.

The city, already a UNESCO Creative City since 2017, was selected for its comprehensive plan for policies around the book to trigger social change, combat violence and build a culture of peace.

Guadalajara’s proposed programme focuses on three strategic axes: 

1. regaining public spaces through reading activities in parks and other accessible places; 
2. social bonding and cohesion especially though reading and writing workshops for children;
3.  strengthening of neighbourhood identity using intergenerational connections, story-telling and street poetry.

As a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts Guadalajara has supported its local talents and advancing creative industries through initiatives that places media arts at the core of their programmes including in its world-famous International Book Fair. The city will further make use of its cultural assets such as libraries, reading rooms, bookstores, independent publishing houses, to improve violence-prevention policies. These resources will be leveraged to advance human rights, gender equality and the culture of peace among members of the public and harness the great potential of books to contribute to social transformation.

ACTIVITIES

Activities will include literary events in collaboration with Latin-American writers, an artistic project on the Tower of Babel, events linking theatre and music to literature and the use of local radio for poetry readings.

The year of celebrations will start on 23 April, 2022, on World Book and Copyright Day.

Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital undertake to promote books and reading and to organize activities over the year. As the twenty-second city to bear the title since 2001, Guadalajara follows Tbilisi (2021) Kuala Lumpur (2020). Past winners include Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Anvers (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam(2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Erevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016), Conakry (2017), Athens (2018), Sharjah, (2019).

The application of the city of Guadalajara was accepted by an Advisory Committee, comprising representatives of the International Publisher's Association (IPA), the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), the International Authors Forum (IAF) and UNESCO.

World Book and Copyright Day 2021, April 23

 WHY READING IS MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER!

The World Book Capital programme will involve numerous events, with some of the most notable ones including the following:

• Urban Stories - a series of literary-musical performances involving authors and musical artists in Old Town districts of Tbilisi - scheduled for June 2021
• Book Flea Market - showcasing handcrafted items on the theme of books, plus "select books from personal libraries" - June-September 2021
• Professional Programme for Foreign Publishers - as part of Tbilisi Book Fair, foreign publishers and editors will be involved in a fellowship programme, with the winning participants meeting their Georgian counterparts at the fair - June 2021
• Literary Forum-Dialogue - networking opportunity for publishers, agents and authors from abroad and local professionals of the field - June 2021
• Festival of Illustrations - displays and workshops involving Georgia, British and German illustrators - September 2021
• International Literary Festival of Tbilisi - authors from across the world will feature in the event aiming to expand from its usual scope - September 2021
• Fairy Tale Festival - exhibitions, workshops, meetings and events for kids will comprise the programme - October 2021
• Residency Programme for International Authors - residency programmes will see Georgian authors introduced abroad, while their foreign counterparts will take up residencies in Georgia - November 2021
• International Conference for Publishers - professionals of the field will be invited to talk freedom of expression, copyright and intellectual property, publishing, and textbooks at the event - January 2022

World Book Capital was launched by a UNESCO General Conference in 2001. The project promotes the book culture worldwide and takes place in different cities every year. Its aims include encouragement of book culture among readers of all ages, and promotion of the development of the library sectors and publishing industry.

The success of World Book and Copyright Day, launched in 1996, encouraged UNESCO to develop the concept of World Book Capital City, selecting Madrid as the Capital for 2001. This was again a success, and so UNESCO's General Conference resolved to make the designation of a World Book Capital City an annual event