Template:On this day - April 23

Icon of Saint George

• 303 – Death of Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr, Patron of the Crown of Aragon, Portugal and several Spanish towns, one of the most venerated saints in the different Christian faiths, and even in Afro-American and Muslim religions (b. 275).
• 1229 – Ferdinand III of Castile reconquers the city of Cáceres (present-day Spain).
• 1521 – During the War of the Communities of Castile, the troops of Charles I of Spain defeat the Comuneros at the Battle of Villalar.
• 1563 – In Spain, work begins on the Monastery of El Escorial.
• 1616 – Burial of Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, playwright and soldier.
• 1616 – Death of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, mestizo poet, historian and writer of the Viceroyalty of Peru (b. 1539).
• 1728 – Death of Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, Spanish organist and composer (b. 1644).
• 1837 – Birth of Juan Bautista Cabrera Ibarz, Spanish poet, theologian and reformist (d. 1916).
• 1865 – Death of Diego de Argumosa, Spanish physician (b. 1792).
• 1918 – Death of Nicolás Achúcarro, Spanish physician and neuroscientist (b. 1880).
• 1925 – The first edition of El Quijote in Braille is published.
• 1951 – In Mexico, the First Congress of Academies of the Spanish Language begins, ending with the creation of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language.
• 1967 – Death of Edgar Neville, Spanish diplomat, writer, playwright, film director and painter (b. 1899).
• 1976 – In Spain, the Cervantes Prize is inaugurated; it is presented in the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso of Alcalá de Henares.
• 1995 – UNESCO declares this day International Book Day, a date that coincides with the death of Miguel de Cervantes, although in fact his death was recorded on 22 April and his burial on the 23rd.
• 1996 – In Spain, the Spanish novelist and Nobel laureate in Literature Camilo José Cela receives the 1996 Cervantes Prize.
• 2004 – In Spain, the Chilean writer, poet and professor Gonzalo Rojas receives the 2003 Cervantes Prize.
• 2015 – Death of Sixto Valencia Burgos, Mexican comic-strip artist and draftsman (b. 1934).
• 2016 – Death of Miguel Picazo, Spanish director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1927).
• 2019 – Death of Roberto Fernández Iglesias, Panamanian poet, literary critic, essayist, publisher, journalist, literature teacher and cultural promoter, expatriate in Mexico (b. 1941).
• 2020 – In Spain, the Spanish poet Francisco Brines receives the 2020 Cervantes Prize.
• 2022 – In Spain, the Venezuelan poet, essayist and university professor Rafael Cadenas receives the 2022 Cervantes Prize.