World Book Day at Lello Bookshop in Porto

"A book opens new horizons", affirmed the Minister of Culture, Luís Filipe de Castro Mendes, on the occasion of World Book Day celebration, 23 April at Lello Bookshop in Porto.

The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Education, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues and the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira.

UNESCO declared 23 April World Book Day for the promotion of reading, publishing and the protection of copyright, with a view to tackling illiteracy encouraging children and adults as well to explore the pleasures of books and reading.

The Minister of Culture took the opportunity to advocate that "we must not read only what we understand" and further explained that parents should also provide their children with diverse literature books, which will set the standards high in terms of knowledge and self-awareness.

Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto, welcomed the two Ministers and also representatives of some of the most beautiful bookshops in the world, namely the Parisian Shakespeare & Co, The Last Bookstore of Los Angeles, the Venetian Libreria Acqua Alta, Atlantis Books (Santorini, Greece), Bart's Books (Ojai, USA), Boekhandel Dominicanen (Maastricht, Netherlands), Cook & Book (Brussels, Belgium) and Daunt Bookshop (London, UK).

The Mayor declared that "a book is a key issue in the field of culture, most importantly, it is a pillar of civilization".

World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries worldwide. It is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and first of all and most of all, it is a celebration of reading.