Kerala’s Kozhikode named India’s first ‘City of Literature’ by Unesco

mangaloretoday.com

Kozhikode, Nov 02, 2023: Kerala’s Kozhikode city was officially designated as a Unesco City of Literature on Tuesday. This recognition makes Kozhikode the first city in India to receive this title.

Unesco formally conveyed the honour to the Kozhikode Corporation as the city joined the ranks of 55 newly selected creative cities.

 

Kozhikode Corporation Mayor Beena Philip expressed her enthusiasm for this achievement, emphasising that the "City of Literature" title is a remarkable acknowledgement of the city’s excellence in the fields of literature and media. She attributed this success to the collective efforts of many individuals and the sustained endeavours of the corporation over the past two years.
The mayor further said, with the achievement as a city of literature, the city administration plans to initiate further projects to promote literature.

Kozhikode has a history of hosting various literary gatherings, including the Kerala Literature Festival.

On World Cities Day on Tuesday, 55 cities joined the Unesco Creative Cities Network (UCCN), following their designation by Unesco Director-General Audrey Azoulay. New cities were acknowledged for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity as part of their development strategies and displaying innovative practices in human-centred urban planning.

With the latest additions, the Network now has 350 cities in more than one hundred countries, representing seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.

In India, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh was placed in the Creative Cities Network in the field of music.

The newly designated cities will cooperate with network members to strengthen their resilience in the face of evolving threats such as climate change, rising inequality, as well as rapid urbanisation, with 68 per cent of the world’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2050.

The newly designated Creative Cities were invited to participate in the 2024 UCCN Annual Conference in Portugal under the theme of bringing youth to the table for the next decade.

Courtesy: India Today