World Book Capital

World Book Capital bestowed by UNESCO as recognition of the quality of a city's programs to promote knowledge.

The designation is derived UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day April 23 each year.

About the title

The success of World Book and Copyright Day, launched in 1996, encouraged UNESCO to develop the concept of World Book Capital City, selecting Madrid as the Capital for 2001. This was again a success, and so UNESCO's General Conference resolved to make the designation of a World Book Capital City an annual event.

UNESCO invited the International Publishers Association, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and the International Booksellers Federation to participate in the nomination process, to ensure the three major branches of the book industry can participate in the decision.

The nomination does not include any financial prize; it rather acknowledges the best programmes dedicated to books and reading.

Nomination criteria

The nominating committee welcomes programmes — presented by or endorsed by the mayor of the city making the application — that promote and foster reading. The programmes are to run from one World Book and Copyright Day and the next. The nomination committee will turn its attention to certain criteria:

the degree of participation of all levels (from the municipal to the international level)
the programme's potential impact
the scope and quality of the activities proposed by the candidates, and the extent to which they involve writers, publishers, booksellers and libraries
any other projects promoting books and reading
the extent to which the programme respects the principles of freedom of expression, as stated by the UNESCO Constitution as well as by Articles 19 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by the Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials

World Book Capital cities

The following cities have been designated as World Book Capitals:

Year	City	Country
2001	Madrid	Spain
2002	Alexandria	Egypt
2003	New Delhi	India
2004	Antwerp^[1]	Belgium
2005	Montreal^[2]	Canada
2006	Turin^[3]	Italy
2007	Bogotá^[4]	Colombia
2008	Amsterdam^[5]	Netherlands
2009	Beirut^[6]	Lebanon
2010	Ljubljana^[7]	Slovenia
2011	Buenos Aires^[8]	Argentina
2012	Yerevan^[9]	Armenia
2013	Bangkok^[10]	Thailand
2014	Port Harcourt^[11]	Nigeria
2015	Incheon^[12]	South Korea
2016	Wrocław^[13]	Poland
2017	Conakry^[14]	Republic of Guinea
2018	Athens^[15]	Greece

Wrocław as the World Book Capital

On the 24th of June 2014 the UNESCO committee decided to award Wrocław to be the next World Book Capital after Incheon. In 2016 Wrocław will not only become the first Polish city to hold the World Book Capital Title, but it will also be the European Capital of Culture during that year. The committee stated that “Civic leaders in Wroclaw have developed an excellent programme that will promote reading among the wider public all through the year”. The Director-General also thanked the selection committee “for its valuable work in favor of the promotion of books and of reading, through a global initiative that highlights the commitment of cities from different regions of the world.”^[16]

Apart from Wrocław, three other cities competed for the title of the World Book Capital in 2016. Those cities were Brasília (Brazil), Montilla (Spain) and Sharjah (United Arab Emirates). ^[17]

References

External links

World Book Capitals

2001: Madrid 2002: Alexandria 2003: New Delhi 2004: Antwerp 2005: Montreal 2006: Turin 2007: Bogotá 2008: Amsterdam 2009: Beirut 2010: Ljubljana 2011: Buenos Aires 2012: Yerevan 2013: Bangkok 2014: Port Harcourt 2015: Incheon 2016: Wrocław 2017: Conakry 2018: Athens

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