World Book Capital


The success of World Book and Copyright Day, launched in 1996, encouraged UNESCO to develop the concept of World Book Capital City, selecting Madrid as the Capital for 2001. This was again a success, and so UNESCO's General Conference resolved to make the designation of a World Book Capital City an annual event.
UNESCO invited the International Publishers Association, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and the International Booksellers Federation to participate in the nomination process, to ensure the three major branches of the book industry can participate in the decision.
The nomination does not include any financial prize; it rather acknowledges the best programmes dedicated to books and reading.

Nomination criteria

The nominating committee welcomes programmes—presented by or endorsed by the mayor of the city making the application—that promote and foster reading. The programmes are to run from one World Book and Copyright Day and the next. The nomination committee will turn its attention to certain criteria:
The following cities have been designated as World Book Capitals:
YearCityCountry
2001Madrid
2002Alexandria
2003New Delhi
2004Antwerp
2005Montreal
2006Turin
2007Bogotá
2008Amsterdam
2009Beirut
2010Ljubljana
2011Buenos Aires
2012Yerevan
2013Bangkok
2014Port Harcourt
2015Incheon
2016Wrocław
2017Conakry
2018Athens
2019Sharjah
2020Kuala Lumpur
2021Tbilisi