New UNESCO City of Literature announced

The world’s seventh UNESCO City of Literature has been announced today. Krakow, widely regarded as Poland’s cultural capital, has joined Edinburgh, the creator of the title and founding city in the network. Other designated Cities of Literature include Melbourne, Dublin, Iowa City, Norwich and Reykjavik. The Cities of Literature are part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which now has 38 cities across its seven thematic areas.

Ali Bowden, director of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust said: “Krakow is an amazing literary city and absolutely worthy of this permanent UNESCO City of Literature title. We’ve been working with Krakow over the last few years to help them with their bid to UNESCO, so today’s news is a real achievement and recognises hard work from both cities. Krakow is a place steeped in literature and poetry, with a vibrant community of publishers, bookshops, literary festivals, prizes, residencies and programmes, and also two Nobel Prize winners in Literature to their name: Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska.”

From Robert Piakowski, main coordinator of Krakow UNESCO City of Literature: “We want to thank everyone for supporting our efforts and the real collaboration that has been shown by our fellow Cities of Literature. Krakow looks forward to playing an active role in the network and continuing newfound alliances across the Cities of Literature network. We think of this newly acquired title as a commitment to the vibrant literary community across the city and we embrace the opportunity to share the best Krakow has to offer with cultural hubs around the world.”

There are ten other cities preparing bids to join the Cities of Literature network: Vancouver (Canada), Prague (Czech Republic), Lviv (Ukraine), Dunedin (New Zealand), Naples (Italy), Heidelberg (Germany), Tromso (Norway), Lillehammer (Norway), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Kampala (Uganda).

In response to the news, Darlusz Adler, the Consul General in Edinburgh said: “Edinburgh and Krakow already have collaborated on many cultural projects and I hope with this designation the various cross-cultural initiatives and literary exchanges will grow stronger. “

For further event information visit the City of Literature website or @EdinCityofLit