On the same date in 1616 the writers Cervantes and Shakespeare died. A coincidence that led UNESCO to establish this date to pay a global tribute to the book every April 23.
He did not miss a celebration at the Word Up community bookstore in Upper Manhattan, where one of his workers turns 10 years old and says that the books turned him into someone else.
Emanuel Abreu himself, the administrator of the bookstore, explains: “Because before I was very ignorant. I followed the word of a lot of ignorant machismo, anti-homosexual racist and now they have taught me a lot about life. Chin a chin, it’s not easy but it’s important, I think. “
“The book is strength, it is courage, it is food; a torch of thought and a source of love”, reads the phrase of the famous Nicaraguan poet, Rubén Darío. That seems to have found a lot of meaning during the pandemic, as many desperately searched for a certain kind of knowledge to fill themselves with courage, seek justice and change history.
“With the George Floyd marches, internet book sales we’re going to say that every day we’d see 10 to 20 something like that. And that day we were selling 100 like that. And [de] anti-racism sold a lot; those were the ones that were sold the most, “Abreu details.
For Emanuel, books represent the greatest force and the most important driving force in his life and like him, many celebrated the creation of so many chapters, the sound of turning each page and the act of reading.
And because it is a holiday in this community bookstore, it is celebrated to be able to have contact again with its public and with the community that reached out to them so as not to break during the pandemic.
“We are going to have a sale, for the first time since we closed, outside. You can buy new or used books also if they want to buy the ones in the windows and if they buy at least $ 15 dollars they also receive a gift audiobook”, explains the administrator of the bilingual bookstore.
A new chapter to begin and thousands of books on the shelves ready to be picked up by avid readers who promise to enjoy them first or second hand. The important thing is that the sound of the passing of the leaves does not stop.
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