Left to right; Waseem Butt, Chris Meril and Dr Andrea Edel at LLF, 2019.
The UNESCO Cities of Literature is a network of hubs of independent publishing and cities that host large-scale literary festivals around the world. The network was established in 2004, with the primary goal of promoting cultural connectivity by bringing together writers, translators, poets, small regional publishers and booksellers. It now has creative cities as members in seven fields: crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, media arts and music. The network comprises hundreds of creative cities across 28 countries and six continents.
It is an enterprise that recognises that artists thrive in synchronicity with one another. The network prioritises independent local publishing houses, the tradition of public poetry readings, literary and art festivals, freedom of speech and artistic expression and cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaborations between creative people. The Cities of Literature proj