MANILA, Philippines – On April 23, Instituto Cervantes will celebrate Dia Internacional del Libro (International Book Day) in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig.

As a lead-up to the day, the organization together with the Spanish Embassy will hold a book market on April 20 in Bonifacio High Street (BHS). There will be poetry recitals, dance performances, and a flamenco guitar show alongside the book fair.

Dia Internacional del Libro traces its roots from a centuries-old Catalan tradition of exchanging books for roses every 3^rd week of April to commemorate the deaths of two Western literary greats: William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of “Don Quixote.” The authors not only died in the same year (1616) but on the same day — April 23.

And so at the book market on April 20, 1pm to 8pm, buyers will not only get a discount for every book purchase but a long-stemmed rose as well.

Some of the country’s major book stores — including National Book Store and Fully Booked — will be setting up booths in the market. Specialty book stores like the Ortigas Foundation, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the La Solidaridad Bookshop owned by National Artist F. Sionil Jose will be there as well.

Spanish performances

After book-shopping, participants can enjoy Spanish contemporary dance performances by award-winning dancing duo Alvaro Esteban and Elias Aguirre. They will perform a routine called “Entomo” exclusively for the event.

Here is their performance of ‘Entomo’ in an art festival in Cairo, Egypt in March 2012:

Lovers of the verse can watch “Bersong EuroPinoy,” a poetry recital where representatives from the European Union will recite poetry in their native languages and Filipino authors will read their own works.

The set of performances also mark the beginning of May as “European Month” in the Philippines.

Books collected from the “Mas Libros, Mas Libres” online campaign will be formally handed over to representatives from public libraries in the Philippines. In the campaign, for every “Like” the campaign’s Facebook page receives, Instituto Cervantes will pledge a Spanish book to be donated to a public school library where Spanish is taught as a foreign language.

The campaign formally closes on April 20 at 4pm.

This is the first time Dia Internacional del Libro will be celebrated in Bonifacio High Street. It was previously held in the Instituto Cervantes grounds in Kalaw, Manila.  – Rappler.com