International relay of events set to mark Unesco World Book Day
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Version 0 of 1. From a pop-up bookshop in Vienna’s giant ferris wheel to book fairs in cities across South Korea, antiquarian booksellers around the world are preparing to host a 24-hour run of events later this month to raise money for children in South Sudan. To mark Unesco’s World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April, 1,800 members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) are preparing a series of pop-up fairs featuring rare books. A mix of presentations, exhibitions, lectures and performances, the events will take place from South Africa to Russia, and New York to Munich, and will raise money for Unesco and actor Forest Whitaker’s literacy projects in South Sudan. ILAB president Norbert Donhofer, who came up with the idea for the pop-up fairs last year, said: “The purpose of ILAB’s participation … is to spotlight rare books and bookselling while raising money for what is at the very foundation of all we do – literacy.” Last year’s pop-up initiative, ILAB’s first, began in Sydney and passed through Tokyo, Moscow, Cape Town, Barcelona, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Zurich, Amsterdam and London, ending the day in Seattle. It made more than €10,000 (£8,000) and bought 1,930 books and 500 pens and paper for South Sudanese children. ILAB hopes that this year’s events, which will be joined for the first time by booksellers in South Korea, will be even bigger. There will be pop-up fairs in Seoul, Pusan and Daegu, and commemorations of the 400th anniversary of the deaths of Shakespeare and Cervantes with exhibitions in Sydney, Madrid and Paris. To celebrate the Dada group’s birth at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich there will be a book presentation on the giant Wiener Riesenrad ferris wheel in Vienna and a reading performance in Budapest. The final events in the 24-hour blitz will take place in Seattle and Portland. In Munich, nine booksellers are inviting book lovers to “Book Tales and Cocktails”. “We like the idea of inviting our customers. We want to show that collecting rare books is not done in solitude, but a wonderful way of life, where people who think alike can socialise,” said Eberhard Koestler from Autographen & Bücher. “Last year we welcomed over 100 guests, who had a great time … It was an amazing experience for all of us to be a part of a worldwide chain of events.” In Cape Town,there will be an event celebrating the English explorer William Burchell, with those attending asked to donate on the day. “We feel that being based in South Africa, a country with high illiteracy levels … we must support the initiative,” said Angelika Elstner from AntiquarianAuctions.com, one of the organisers. According to Unesco statistics, almost 70% of adults in South Sudan are illiterate, compared to 24% in Sudan. The Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative began working with youth in South Sudan in 2012 and is a partner of Unesco. The celebrations coincide with Britain and Ireland’s similarly named World Book Night on the same day. |