CITIES OF LITERATURE

Delegates from the UNESCO Cities of Literature in Tartu, Estonia. Photo by Jassu Hertsmann The 2026 Annual Cities of Literature Conference was hosted by Tartu, Estonia between 11-15 May. This was the largest conference to date: 57 delegates from 40 cities. This included representatives from new Cities who joined the network in October 2025: Aberystwyth (Cymru), Celje (Slovenia), Conakry (Guinea), Gdańsk (Poland), Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye), Lund (Sweden) and San Luis Potosí (Me

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature across the world celebrated World Poetry Day on 21 March. World Poetry Day was adopted by UNESCO during their 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, and the day has since been used to champion and celebrate linguistic diversity, poetic expression, and endangered languages. Cities of Literature celebrate the power of poetry to promote justice, unity, and joy. Granada City of Literature (Spain) lead the celebrations for the Literature net

As they do annually, several of the 63 UNESCO Cities of Literature raised awareness about the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the social media campaign, “17 Books for the 17 SDGs.” Each day, between December 7 and 23, UNESCO Cities of Literature shared book suggestions from their cities, using the hashtags #17Booksfor17SDGs and #17livrespour17ODD. Other Cities of Literature shared the selections to broaden the reach of the lists across the globe

Iowa City's Henry Morray is the winner of Slamovision 2025, having competed against the finest spoken word artists across the UNESCO Cities of Literature network. UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature use creativity and culture to promote the social, economic and cultural development of their cities. In these times of global uncertainty, the network continues to connect literary communities across the world, forging bonds through the power of books, words and ideas. Celebratin

The 53 designated Creative Cities of Literature from 39 countries across the globe are delighted to welcome ten additional Cities of Literature to their literary family. Today UNESCO has announced the designation of 58 new Creative Cities in total across eight artforms to join its Creative Cities Network, making for a total of 408 Creative Cities from more than 100 countries worldwide. Among these new Creative Cities, ten have been designated in Literature: Aberystwyth (Wales