Overview
- The national Día del Lector, observed Monday, commemorates Jorge Luis Borges’s birth and was created by Congress through law 26.754 promulgated in July 2012.
- Borges was born in Buenos Aires on August 24, 1899, became a leading Spanish‑language writer with works such as Ficciones and El Aleph, lost his sight later in life and received the Cervantes Prize before dying in Geneva in 1986.
- Major Argentine outlets published efemérides on August 24 that pair Borges remembrance with chronological listings of other dated events from AD 79 to the 21st century.
- Those efemérides cite a mix of global items and observances, including the AD 79 Vesuvius eruption, Steve Jobs’s 2011 resignation, the New York sentencing of Mark David Chapman, the International Day of Strange Music and the International Day of Natural Parks.
- Coverage is commemorative rather than breaking news and is used by cultural groups and institutions to stage readings, book drives and talks that aim to expand access to books and reading programs.