Thursday, April 24, 2008

Could Vancouver Become a World City of Literature?

A movement is underway to have Vancouver named a UNESCO City of Literature, like the City of Edinburgh, which received the first-ever UN designation in 2004. To be recognized by UNESCO (a designation comparable to the World Heritage Sites), a literary city must demonstrate that it has a broad-based publishing industry, a tradition of hosting literary events and festivals, and a wide range of public spaces dedicated to the preservation and promotion of literature.

Kiley and I have been working on the project over the past year, and I joined Alma Lee, the founding artistic director of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, and Margaret Reynolds, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, yesterday for a public consultation at the Vancouver Public Library. The session was well attended, and I had a chance to present some of the background from our working proposal for UNESCO along with Hal Wake from the Writer’s Festival, CBC’s Joan Anderson, and Rick Antonson from Tourism Vancouver.

A number of people asked to receive copies of the draft UNESCO dossier and so we’ve posted it here for download: UNESCO_DossierFeb4_DRAFT.pdf. (Please note the file is currently a draft only and will be revised over the spring before it goes to UNESCO this summer.) If anyone would like to receive further project news or provide additional feedback, please email