Bangkok designated World Book Capital 2013
30 June 2011
Bangkok, Thailand has been designated World Book Capital 2013. The city was selected as the 13th World Book Capital by a committee made up of representatives from the publishing world and UNESCO, which met at the Organization's Paris Headquarters on 27 June.
The committee said it selected Bangkok "for its willingness to bring together all the various stakeholders in the book supply chain and beyond, actors involved in the publication chain for a range of projects proposed, for its community-focused and the high level of its commitment through the proposed activities."
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova congratulated Bangkok "for the rich and varied programme it has prepared and committed itself to, that gives special emphasis to young people, marginalized groups and the development of reading for all.
"With its accent on cooperation and dialogue, at local, national and international levels, this programme responds perfectly to the objectives of the World Book Capital project, which is attracting the attention of an increasing number of cities worldwide."
The World Book Capital selection committee includes representatives from the International Publishers Associations (IPA-UIE), the International Booksellers Federation (IBF), the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Each year this committee attributes the title to a city which has committed itself to promote books and reading, and to highlight the vitality of literary creativity. The nomination does not imply any financial prize, but an exclusively symbolic acknowledgement of the best programme dedicated to books and reading, UNESCO said.
Previous World Book Capitals were: Madrid (Spain, 2001), Alexandria (Egypt, 2002), New Delhi (India, 2003), Antwerp (Belgium, 2004), Montreal (Canada, 2005), Turin (Italy, 2006), Bogotá (Colombia, 2007), Amsterdam (the Netherlands, 2008), Beirut (Lebanon, 2009), Ljubljana (Slovenia, 2010).
Current & upcoming: Buenos Aires (Argentina, 2011) and Yerevan (Armenia, 2012).
Source: UNESCO press
