April 23rd, World Book Day: Quijote Reading and Cervantes Award.

On April 23rd, the World Book Day is celebrated and numerous acts representing the Spanish culture also take place. One of them is the reading of the book “The most ingenious knight Don Quijote of the Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes, which it goes, uninterrupted, throughout the day. In Bilbao’s case, the city mayor Iñaki Azkuna opened last Wednesday, April 23rd, the public reading of such work at the Bibebarrieta Library. Azkuna took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of instilling in the youth the pleasure of reading, since nowadays it seems that television and computers win the battle over literature.

On this day of great importance, it is also granted the “Miguel de Cervantes Award,” which it is the death anniversary of the Spanish writer. This year, the award went to the Argentinean poet Juan Gelman, born in Buenos Aires in 1930, whose poetry combines the contribution to the Hispanic literature legacy and the civil battle activity against the human rights violations.

“Mi Buenos Aires querido”

Sentado al borde de una silla desfondada,
mareado, enfermo, casi vivo,
escribo versos previamente llorados
por la ciudad donde nací.
Hay que atraparlos, también aquí
nacieron hijos dulces míos
que entre tanto castigo te endulzan bellamente.
Hay que aprender a resistir.
Ni a irse ni a quedarse,
a resistir,
aunque es seguro
que habrá más penas y olvido.
Juan Gelman