Ruth Padel

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

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]

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:

• 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.

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, 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.^[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]

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

The Cities of Literature are:

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

• Creative Cities Network
• City of Crafts and Folk Arts
• City of Music
• City of Film
• Design Cities
• City of Gastronomy
• City of Media Arts

• UNESCO Cities of Literature Website
• Creative Cities Map, UNESCO