UNESCO and the World Book Capital Advisory Committee commended Rio de Janeiro’s demonstration of the importance of its literary heritage alongside a clearly defined vision and action plan to promote literature, sustainable publishing and reading among young people tapping into digital technologies. This is the first time that a Portuguese-speaking city has been designated World Book Capital.
In line with priorities expressed in the World Book Capital Charter, Rio de Janeiro conceives its project as having the ability to affect social change – through, for example, literacy, education and poverty eradication – and bring sustainable economic benefit linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The year of celebrations will start on 23 April 2025, on World Book and Copyright Day.
Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital undertake to promote books and reading for all ages and groups, within and across national borders, and to organize a programme of activities for the year.
As the twenty-fifth city to bear the title since 2001, Rio de Janeiro follows Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Erevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016), Conakry (2017), Athens (2018), Sharjah, (2019), Kuala Lumpur (2020), Tbilisi (2021), Guadalajara (2022), Accra (2023) and Strasbourg (2024).
Image :©City Hall Rio de Janeiro,2023