World Book Capital

World Book Capital is a title bestowed by UNESCO to a city in recognition of the quality of its programs to promote books and reading and the dedication of all players in the book industry.

The designation runs from April 23 (UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day) of one year until April 22 of the following 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 Associations, 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:
*Madrid (2001)
*Alexandria (2002)
*New Delhi (2003)
*Antwerp (2004)
*Montreal (2005)
*Turin (2006)
*Bogotá (2007)
*Amsterdam (2008)
*Beirut (2009)
*Ljubljana (2010)

External links

* [http://www.bogotacapitalmundialdellibro.com BCML - Bogota World Book Capital 2007] Official web site
* [http://mcml.canoe.com/en/ MCML - Montreal World Book Capital 2005–2006] Official web site
* [http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24079&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO announcement selecting Turin as 2006 World Book Capital City]
* [http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27412&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO announcement selecting Bogotá as 2007 World Book Capital City]
* [http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=33332&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO announcement selecting Amsterdam as 2008 World Book Capital City]
* [http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37484&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO announcement selecting Ljubljana as 2010 World Book Capital City]