City of Literature

Last updated

The Portico Library in Manchester The Portico Library (28040463645).jpg
The Portico Library in Manchester
The State Library Victoria in Melbourne State Library of Victoria La Trobe Reading room 5th floor view.jpg
The State Library Victoria in Melbourne

UNESCO's City of Literature programme is part of the wider Creative Cities Network.

Contents

The Network was launched in 2004, and now has member cities in seven creative fields. The other creative fields are: Crafts and Folk Arts, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Media Arts, and Music. [1]

Criteria

To be approved as a City of Literature, cities need to meet a number of criteria set by UNESCO. [2]

Designated UNESCO Cities of Literature share similar characteristics:

Cities submit bids to UNESCO to be designated a City of Literature. The designations are monitored and reviewed every four years by UNESCO.

About the cities

Heidelberg University Library Heidelberg - panoramio (11).jpg
Heidelberg University Library
Braidense National Library in Milan 0-2016-05-14 bibioteca braidense-sala-maria-teresa.jpg
Braidense National Library in Milan

In 2004, Edinburgh became the first literary city. It hosts the annual International Book Festival and has its own poet laureate—the Makar. [3] [4]

Ljubljana runs their Library Under the Treetops at various locations across the city, including Tivoli City Park and Zvezda Park. These sites offer a selection of book genres and several domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines. [5]

Manchester is home to the "world-class" Central Library and the "historic gems" of The Portico, John Rylands, and Chetham's. [6]

Melbourne's is home to Australia's oldest public library State Library of Victoria, the Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas The Wheeler Centre and was home to the world's biggest book shop Cole's Book Arcade, opened at the turn of the twentieth century.

Prague's "great intellectual and creative resources," includes the book design, illustration, typography, and graphic design fields. It also has the National Library of the Czech Republic among over 200 libraries, one of Europe's highest concentrations of bookshops, and the Prague Writers' Festival. [7]

Libraries in other literary cities, include: Braidense National Library in Milan, Heidelberg University Library, and the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. [8] [9] [10]

Dunedin is the "Edinburgh of the South", and home to New Zealand's oldest university. Durban is "fun-loving." [11] [12]

Montevideo is a "vibrant, eclectic place" and Québec City is a "gorgeous, seductive place." [13] [14]

Cities of Literature

The National Library in Prague Clementinum baroque library 7.jpg
The National Library in Prague
The National Library in Dublin 20130810 dublin216.JPG
The National Library in Dublin
John Rylands Library in Manchester The John Rylands Library Interior.jpg
John Rylands Library in Manchester
Aracataca train station, in Colombia, is one of the settings of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. Aracataca train station.jpg
Aracataca train station, in Colombia, is one of the settings of a Gabriel García Márquez novel.

11 countries have multiple Cities of Literature; 10 of them have two, while the United Kingdom has five.

The Cities of Literature are:

CityCountryYear of inscription
Angoulême Flag of France.svg  France 2019 [15]
Baghdad Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq 2015 [16]
Barcelona Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 2015 [17]
Beirut Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon 2019 [15]
Bremen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2023 [18]
Bucheon Flag of South Korea.svg  Korea Republic 2017 [19]
Buffalo City Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2023 [18]
Dublin Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 2010 [20]
Dunedin Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2014 [21]
Durban Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2017 [22]
Edinburgh Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 2004 [4]
Exeter Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 2019 [23] [24] [15]
Gothenburg Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 2021 [25]
Granada Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 2014 [26]
Heidelberg Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2014 [27]
Hobart Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 2023 [18]
Iași Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 2023 [18]
Iowa City Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2008 [28]
Jakarta Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 2021 [25]
Kozhikode Flag of India.svg  India 2023 [18]
Kraków Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 2013 [29]
Kuhmo Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 2019 [15]
Kutaisi Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 2023 [18]
Lahore Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 2019 [15]
Leeuwarden Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 2019 [30]
Lillehammer Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 2017 [31]
Ljubljana Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 2015 [32]
Lviv Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 2015 [33]
Lyon Flag of France.svg  France 2023 [18]
Manchester Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 2017 [34]
Melbourne Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 2008 [35]
Milan Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 2017 [36]
Montevideo Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 2015 [37]
Nanjing Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2019 [15]
Norwich Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 2012 [38]
Nottingham Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 2015 [39]
Óbidos Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 2015 [40]
Odesa Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 2019 [41]
Okayama Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2023 [18]
Prague Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 2014 [7]
Québec City Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2017 [42]
Reykjavík Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 2011 [43]
Rio de Janeiro Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 2023 [18]
Seattle Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2017 [44]
Sulaymaniyah Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq 2019 [15]
Taif Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia 2023 [18]
Tartu Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 2015 [45]
Tukums Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 2023 [18]
Ulyanovsk Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2015 [46]
Utrecht Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 2017 [47]
Vilnius Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 2021 [48]
Wonju Flag of South Korea.svg  Korea Republic 2019 [15]
Wrocław Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 2019 [15]

See also

References

  1. "UNESCO Creative Cities Network". Archived from the original on 28 August 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  2. "Literature". UNESCO - Creative Cities Network. Archived from the original on 22 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  3. "Edinburgh Crowned the Capital of Literature". TheGuardian.com .
  4. 1 2 "Edinburgh" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  5. "Knjižnica pod krošnjami". Knjižnica pod krošnjami.
  6. "Story, Manchester Metropolitan University". Manchester Metropolitan University. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Prague". Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  8. "Ten Stunning Italian Libraries". Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  9. "8 Most Beautiful Libraries In Germany". Culture Trip. 27 May 2016.
  10. "5 Libraries In Dublin Every Bibliophile Should Visit". Culture Trip. 20 October 2015.
  11. "Dunedin travel". Lonely Planet.
  12. "Durban travel". Lonely Planet.
  13. "Montevideo travel". Lonely Planet.
  14. "Québec City travel". Lonely Planet.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "UNESCO designates 66 new Creative Cities".
  16. "Baghdad" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  17. "Barcelona" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "55 new cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network on World Cities Day" . Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  19. "Bucheon" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  20. "Dublin" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  21. "Dunedin" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  22. "Durban" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  23. "Exeter - only UK city to be awarded UNESCO City of Literature status". news.exeter.gov.uk.
  24. "Exeter". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  25. 1 2 "49 new cities join UNESCO's Creative Cities Network". Cities of Design Network. 11 November 2021.
  26. "Granada". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  27. "Heidelberg". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  28. "Iowa City". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  29. "Kraków". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  30. "Leeuwarden". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  31. "Lillehammer". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  32. "Ljubljana". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  33. "Lviv". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  34. "Manchester". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  35. "Melbourne". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  36. "Milan". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  37. "Montevideo". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  38. "Norwich". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  39. "Nottingham". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  40. "Óbidos". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  41. "Odessa". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  42. "Québec City". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  43. "Reykjavík". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  44. "Seattle". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  45. "Tartu". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  46. "Ulyanovsk". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  47. "Utrecht". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  48. "Vilnius". unesco.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.