April 23rd holds a special significance as it commemorates both Spanish Language Day and World Book Day, as designated by UNESCO. This dual celebration offers an opportunity to honour not only the beaty of the Spanish Language but also the joy of reading and writing. It is a day to reflect on the impact of literature, as we also pay tribute to literary giants like Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.
In some places, like Catalonia, April 23rd is also known as La Diada de Sant Jordi or Saint George’s Day. People there celebrate by giving each other books and roses. It is a day full of love and stories!
Here at Wellington City Library, we’re joining the festivities by sharing our Collection of Spanish Language books and stories with you. Come and join us this Tuesday, April 23rd, at 10:30 am for a bilingual Storytime at Te Māhanga Karori Library.
If you are excited to explore further into the works of Cervantes, come to check our new titles by this literary giant, including Cervantes’s masterpiece Don Quijote de la Mancha. His writings offer a profound insight into our humar and social condition transcending time and language barrier and highting the universal power of storytelling.
Let’s come together to celebrate our linguistic diversity and cultivate our love for Spanish language culture. It is an opportunity to have fun, and perhaps discover your new favourite book.
The masterpiece
Don Quixote / Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
“Widely regarded as the world’s first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain.”–BOOK JACKET.” (Catalogue)
El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha / Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
“En el verano de 1604, próximo a cumplir los cincuenta y siete años, Miguel de Cervantes entregaba al librero de la corte española el manuscrito de una obra suya a la cual había dado el título El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, y que casi cuatro siglos después sigue contándose entre las excelsas del genio humano. Es la fama de su Quijote lo que le ha elevado en la estimación universal a la altura de los máximos creadores literarios, al lado de Homero, Shakespeare y Dante. .” — Amazon.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Who was Miguel de Cervantes?
The man who invented fiction : how Cervantes ushered in the modern world / Egginton, William
“In the early seventeenth century, a crippled, graying, almost toothless veteran of Spain’s wars against the Ottoman Empire published a book. That book, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in human history. Cervantes did more than just publish a bestseller, though. He invented a way of writing. This book is about how Cervantes came to create what we now call fiction, and how fiction changed the world”– (Adapted from Catalogue)
Other ways to read
Don Quixote / Jenkins, Martin
“Cervantes’ comic masterpiece The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha, Don Quixote tells the story of a man who sets out to recreate the chivalric world of his literary imagination in the brutal reality of seventeenth-century rural Spain. It is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest novels ever written.” “This stage adaptation, a collaboration between two of the most imaginative playwrights from Spain and Britain, was specially commissioned by West Yorkshire Playhouse, where it was directed by Josep Galindo in September 2007.”–BOOK JACKET”” (Catalogue)
Don Quixote. Volume one / Davis, Rob
“In a sleepy village, a retired gentleman is consumed with tales of chivalry. Seeing no impediments, such as logic, propriety or sanity, to fulfilling his dreams, this would-be hero reinvents himself as the Knight-Errant, Don Quixote. He sets out across the arid open country in search of adventures accompanied only his dim-witted squire, Sancho Panza.” (Catalogue)
