Today World Book Day is being hosted in the UK and Ireland.

There will be an online festival featuring J K Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Hornby and Minette Walters among others, with a mixture of specially-commissioned films, online chats and discussion forums for readers of every age. If you are unable to take part today, due to our hefty time-difference, there will be access to the archive material at World Book Day.

World Book and Copyright Day was conceived by UNESCO in 1995, drawing inspiration from a Catalan tradition of street festivals and book fairs held on April 23. This is a symbolic date in world literature, marking the birth or death of writers such as William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Vladimir Nabokov.

A literary tradition such as this, on the auspicious date of 23 April, will be one for our calendar.