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Friday, May 19, 2017

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.

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