Barcelona, UNESCO City of Literature

As of today, Barcelona is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature. The report submitted by the city on 15 July passed the assessment of the cities in the network, the experts and the UNESCO management. Together with Baghdad, Ljubljana, Lviv, Montevideo, Nottingham, Óbidos, Tartu and Ulyanovsk, Barcelona joins the group of cities that are committed to literature as centre of their creativity. The network already includes Edinburgh, Melbourne, Iowa City, Dublin, Norwich, Reykjavik, Krakow, Prague, Heidelberg, Dunedin and Granada.

The Cities of Literature group is one of the sections of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, comprised of 116 cities. The network also includes the disciplines of cinema, music, digital arts, cuisine, design and arts and crafts.

The designation means world recognition of Barcelona's literary sector as the creative stimulus of the city. The objectives that Barcelona will set itself is to promote the work of writers, be the epicentre of literary creation and provide support to the work of booksellers, publishers and translators. It will also continue to work to promote libraries and raise the profile of the literary heritage in the city.

Barcelona based its candidacy on the diversity and richness of its literary heritage in two languages, on the international power of its status as publishing capital, on the dynamic work of the agents involved in promoting reading and literary education, and most especially on the festive and popular capacity for living literature, which is distilled in the Sant Jordi, or Saint George, celebration. A celebration that in 2015 celebrated 20 years since it inspired UNESCO to designate 23 April World Book and Copyright Day.

More information at this link.