The title of UNESCO World Book Capital has been handed over
Starting from Wroclaw, the sculpture presenting a book page flying on the wind will be granted to each new city taking over the title every year. In 2017, we will hand it over to Conakry, Guinea’s capital, where a large-scale readership promotion program is being planned, particularly among children aged between 12 and 16. ‘We will bring 100 thousand books to Guinea,’ announced Wroclaw’s Mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz during the gala at which the title of UNESCO World Book Capital was handed over. He reminded the participants that his meeting with Tadeusz Różewicz (the anniversary of the poet’s death was on Sunday 24th April) had been a magical experience to him, adding that Różewicz’s collection of books will be transferred to the recently opened Pan Tadeusz Museum in the near future.
Wroclaw received the title of UNESCO World Book Capital from the previous city holding this function – Incheon (South Korea). The advisor for culture to Incheon’s Mayor argued that the city had managed to improve the readership level by 47% among its 4 million inhabitants, emphasising that books had been used as a means of levelling the differences between affluent inhabitants and people with lower incomes. Apart from that, books had been shared among children in kindergartens and schools and in houses. Thanks to this intensive work, Incheon currently ranks 4th in South Korea in respect of the large-scale readership program.
The importance of readership for the world was stressed by Eric Falt, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General, who granted the title of UNESCO World Book Capital to Wroclaw on Sunday (24th April). He quoted an example taken from one of the press articles on the construction of private… prisons. ‘A simple algorithm allows us to predict how many people will be imprisoned, for example, in 15 years, and most of them will be people who can’t read, because there is a correlation between poverty, illiteracy and the risk of committing a crime,’ Falt explained.
He also announced the name of a new UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador: Vera Michalski-Hoffmann, a Swiss publisher, the wife of the late writer Jan Michalski, the founder of Les Edition Noir sur Blanc (a literary publishing house with branches in Paris and in Warsaw), the owner of a majority of shares of Wydawnictwo Literackie, the chairwoman of the Jan Michalski Foundation created in 2004 in order to promote and support literary activity.
People of letters promote reading
‘The idea of the World Book Capital is close to my heart,’ said Trasvin Jittidecharak, Member of the Board of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions), at the conference inaugurating the weekend with literature on Saturday morning. Jittidecharak, who comes from Thailand, explained that books are not popular in her homeland. ‘We are a country where oral culture is alive, and the wet climate is not good for books, either, because paper soaks and rots. Books were brought to us by missionaries in the 19th century, but it was only UNESCO that helped promote readership in our country. We, people of letters, are grateful for the idea of the World Book Capital. We will do everything to take care of and maintain written culture in these difficult days so that it could guide us through life. Congratulations to Wroclaw!’
‘This year Wroclaw will be the place where over 1640 book-related events and meetings with 4,000 authors will be held,’ announces Irek Grin, ECC’s curator responsible for literature. ‘We will turn Wroclaw into a city of literature and Bibliopolis – a huge library. Many ideas were born as a part of the Citizens’ Literary Budget. It is our inhabitants who decide how to become surrounded with literature in the city,’ adds Grin.
In a few days, on 28th May, a literary Pit Stop – a place where you can cover your car with stickers containing literary quotations – will be set up near the City Arsenal. The city will also be virtually packed in literature – places such as Zaułek Solny [Salt Alley] will disappear under poems. ‘I announce a new national sport: reading,>>'<< these are Irek Grin>>'<>'<>'<>'<>'<< Lorenz, Rammstein>>'<>'<< in Goethe Pop-up Pavilion on the Nowy Targ square in Saturday, could not complain about the lack of interest, either. The organiser - the Goethe Institute - deserves endless applause for the ideal organisation of this meeting. They even provided for protection against bad weather by handing out green umbrellas and polar blankets to visitors. Each listener equipped with coldless headphones could listen to a simultaneous interpretation of what Flake said and receive fragments of the book in their pre-premiere translation into Polish. The keyboardist, who admitted that he had become a writer a year ago, turned out to be a really good story-teller. His ‘Tastenficker>>'<< (The Key-Fucker) is an autobiography about Lorenz>>'<>'<< said Flake. Then he told the audience about his childhood: stuttering, wearing glasses, fear of flying, hipochondria, his first performance and early years on stage. Flake will return to Wroclaw in August, this time with the entire Rammstein band. World Book Capital for children The vernissage and meeting with Iwona Chmielewska, an illustrator of children>>'<>'<>'<>'<< [A Poet>>'<
