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UNESCO Creative Cities Network

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 and now consists of 295 cities  across 7 designations. These  designations are Craft and Folk Art; Design; Film; Gastronomy; Literature; Media Arts and Music. The member cities that form part of the Network come from all continents and regions with different income levels and populations. They work together towards a common mission: placing creativity and the creative economy at the core of their urban development plans to make cities safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Cities of Literature are a global network of 42 cities who specialise in Literature. The UNESCO designation ‘City of Literature’ recognises excellence and places an obligation on cities to nurture and support their artform and collaborate internationally. This should be done by sharing best practice, supporting freedom of speech and instigating projects that ensure literature reaches as wide and diverse an audience as possible, locally and internationally.

In October 2023, 11 new cities joined the UNESCO Cities of Literature Network.      Bremen (Germany), Buffalo City (South Africa), Hobart (Australia), Iasi (Romania), Kozhikode (India), Kutaisi (Georgia), Lyon (France), Okayama City (Japan), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Taif (Saudi Arabia) and Tukums (Latvia).

More details on the Creative Cities Network and how a city can apply to become part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network is available here.

 

UNESCO Cities of Literature

Dublin
Dublin

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2010

Norwich
Norwich

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2012

Krakow
Krakow

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2013

Prague
Prague

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2014

Dunedin
Dunedin

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2014

Granada
Granada

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2014

Baghdad
Baghdad

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2015

Lviv
Lviv

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2015

Óbidos
Óbidos

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2015

Tartu
Tartu

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2015

Bucheon
Bucheon

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2017

Durban
Durban

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2017

Milan
Milan

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2017

Seattle
Seattle

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2017

Utrecht
Utrecht

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2017

Beirut
Beirut

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Exeter
Exeter

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Kuhmo
Kuhmo

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Lahore
Lahore

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Nanjing
Nanjing

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Odessa
Odessa

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Slemani
Slemani

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Wonju
Wonju

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Wroclaw
Wroclaw

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2019

Vilnius
Vilnius

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2021

Jakarta
Jakarta

A UNESCO City of Literature since 2021