Cities of Literature

Yesterday, I posted about book towns, small rural towns/villages in which second–hand and antiquarian bookshops are concentrated.  Well, big cities can also have a literary designation; UNESC, in 2004, started an initiative called Cities of Literature, in order to “promote the social, economic and cultural development of cities in both the developed and the developing world.”

To become a City of Literature a city has to, among other things, score highly for:

·         Quality, quantity and diversity of publishing in the city

·         Hosting literary events and festivals which promote domestic and foreign literature

·         Existence of libraries, bookstores and public or private cultural centers which preserve, promote and disseminate domestic and foreign literature.

There are 20 cities around the world which have received this designation:

Baghdad, Iraq

Barcelona, Spain

Dublin, Ireland

Dunedin, New Zealand

Edinburgh, Scotland

Granada, Spain

Heidelberg, Germany

Iowa City, United States

Krakow, Poland

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Lviv, Ukraine

Melbourne, Australia

Montevideo, Uruguay

Norwich, England

Nottingham, England

Óbidos, Portugal

Prague, Czech Republic

Reykjavik, Iceland

Tartu, Estonia

Ulyanovsk, Russia

If you are interested in investigating any of these cities, go to http://www.cityofliterature.com/cities-of-literature/cities-of-literature/.  It provides links for the cities and explains why they are deserving of the title City of Literature.