Two hundred years after it was published, hundreds of Tapatio literary enthusiasts will celebrate World Book Day by reading Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice” on April 23.
Organized by the city council and the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the marathon reading session will take place 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. at the Rambla Cataluña on Avenida Juarez and Escorza.
World Book Day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1995 to encourage reading. Organized by City Hall and the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the mass reading events have been taking place annually in Jalisco since 2002.Last year, 423 people gathered in Guadalajara to read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” With 46,509 votes, “Pride and Prejudice” was chosen by the public this year ahead of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” which received 23,832 votes, and Augusto Monterroso’s “Complete Works and Other Stories,” which won just 1,879 votes.