City of Literature

Criteria

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

Designated UNESCO Cities of Literature share similar characteristics:

• Quality, quantity, and diversity of publishing in the city
• Quality and quantity of educational programmes focusing on domestic or foreign literature at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels
• Literature, drama, and/or poetry playing an important role in the city
• Hosting literary events and festivals, which promote domestic and foreign literature
• Existence of libraries, bookstores, and public or private cultural centres, which preserve, promote, and disseminate domestic and foreign literature
• Involvement by the publishing sector in translating literary works from diverse national languages and foreign literature
• Active involvement of traditional and new media in promoting literature and strengthening the market for literary products

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

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

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.

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

Melbourne's home to Australia's oldest public library, the 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, as well as over 200 libraries, one of Europe's highest concentrations of bookshops, and the Prague Writers' Festival.

Libraries in other literary cities include Braidense National Library in Milan, Heidelberg University Library and the National Library of Ireland in Dublin.

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

Cities of Literature

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

The Cities of Literature are:

References

References

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