2023-10-07 15:22:18
The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro has been designated as the World Book Capital for 2025, said Friday a press release from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Rio de Janeiro succeeds Accra in 2023 and Strasbourg in 2024 and becomes the first Portuguese-speaking city to be designated as World Book Capital.
“Books are essential vehicles for accessing, transmitting and promoting education, science, culture and information around the world. Thanks to books, we can inform ourselves, entertain ourselves and better understand our world,” says UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, quoted in the press release.
UNESCO and the World Book Capital Advisory Committee have welcomed Rio de Janeiro’s valorization of the importance of its literary heritage, as well as a clearly defined vision and action plan to promote literature, sustainable publishing and reading among young people, through digital technology, according to the same source.
In accordance with the priorities expressed in the Charter of the World Book Capital, Rio de Janeiro considers that its project will enable social change – through, in particular, literacy, education and the eradication of poverty – and bring sustainable economic benefits linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the press release notes.
The year of celebrations will begin on April 23, 2025, on World Book and Day.
Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capitals commit to promoting books and reading for all ages and groups, within and across national borders, and to organizing a program of activities for the year.
As the twenty-fifth city to bear this title since 2001, Rio de Janeiro succeeds Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016 ), Conakry (2017), Athens (2018), Sharjah (2019), Kuala Lumpur (2020), Tbilisi (2021), Guadalajara (2022), Accra (2023) and Strasbourg (2024).
The UNESCO World Book Capital Advisory Committee is composed of representatives from the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF), the International Authors Forum (IAF), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA ), the International Union of Publishers (UIE), and UNESCO.
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