CITIES OF LITERATURE

World Poetry Day takes place on 21 March, and was adopted by UNESCO as World Poetry Day 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. 

 

In 2025 UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature across the world celebrated the achievements of their city. 

​The theme for 2025's World Poetry Day is "Poetry as a Bridge for Peace and Inclusion" and in our ever divided world it offers us the opportunity to connect with one another, across countries and cultures. Granada City of Literature led the celebrations for the Literature network as usual and organised a large poetry reading in Granada, where the local literary community will come together for a joyful celebration of poetry.

 

More than seventeen Cities of Literature took part, including Ljubljana. For ten consecutive years, on World Poetry Day (March 21st), Ljubljana has hosted a poetry marathon. In 2025, they held a poetry festival which took place March 17th to 23rd at five locations across Ljubljana, and was dedicated to performative poetry.

 

Norwich City of Literature ran an event on Thursday 20th March with one of the UK’s most beloved writers, Wendy Cope, as she led a 25-minute reading followed by a discussion. Melbourne published a video series of six Wheeler Centre Hot Desk fellows reading their original poetry. Tartu City of Literature marked World Poetry Day with a whole host of events, including a poetry book fair at Tartu Literature House, whilst Angoulême hosted the ‘Printemps des Poètes’ (Spring of Poets) from March 12th to 23rd. 

 

Tukums Library ran an initiative called ‘Gift a Poem’ which encourages visitors to share the beauty of poetry with one another. Wonju City took the original work of local writers and poets and turned them into ‘Poetry Paintings’ which were then displayed on their website.

 

Kuhmo will celebrated with an free event in Kuhmo town library, whilst Manchester launched their city’s new Clean and Green Strategy with Poetry in the Park at Boggart Hole Clough, where the Manchester Libraries be handed out packets of bee-friendly seeds. Nottingham celebrated World Poetry Day with a series of online videos talking to local creatives about how they got involved with poetry and what it means to them. 

 

Okayama celebrated World Poetry Day for the first time in 2025 with a ‘silent reading’ style bookclub which encourages people to read their own poetry. Milan hosted several events dedicated to poetry, offering something for everyone whilst Lyon hosted a three-week long poetry festival. Vilnius Literary House hosted the final of the pupils' poetry translation competition and Heidelberg offered a poetry-inspired church service, amongst a range of other wonderful events. 

 

Edinburgh, the oldest City of Literature, marked World Poetry Day with a teaser trailer made by their Edinburgh College of Art animation students, hinting at a love-letter poem for the city by Edinburgh Makar and author Michael Pedersen. Dunedin City of Literature partnered with OAR-FM on World Poetry Day for the launch in the City Library of ‘Layers of Identity’ – a creative writing podcast and book project, showcasing the diverse voices of young Dunedin writers and poets through powerful stories of identity, culture, and belonging.

 

 

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