<P> World Book Day is a charity event held annually in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the first Thursday in March . It is the local manifestation of World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright . On World Book Day, every child in full - time education in the UK is given a voucher to be spent on books . </P> <P> The Day was first celebrated in 1995 in the United Kingdom . The original, global World Book Day event is generally observed on 23 April - it was changed in the UK to avoid clashes with Easter school holidays and with St George's Day . Conversely, a separate event World Book Night organized by independent charity The Reading Agency is held on 23 April . </P> <P> The United Kingdom's own version of World Book Day began in 1998, launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Globe Theatre in London . Several million schoolchildren in the UK were given a special £ 1 World Book Day Book Token (€ 1.50 in Ireland) which could be redeemed against any book in any UK bookshop . A specially created WBD anthology priced at £ 1 (€ 1.50 in Ireland) was also published . All World Book Day point of sale and the £ 1 book carried the special World Book Day logo to help unify the initiative through all outlets . </P>

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