World Poetry Day is on March 21, and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements."
World Poetry Day has existed in some form since at least 1505,[citation needed] according to the National Poetry Day Committee, which was based in Florida, USA, in the early 1990s. It was generally celebrated in October, sometimes on the 5th, but in the latter part of the 20th Century the world community celebrated it on October 15, the birthday of Virgil, the Roman epic poet and poet laureate under Augustus. The tradition to keep an October date for national or international poetry day celebrations still holds in many countries[1][2]. Alternately, a different October or even November date is celebrated.
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