The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world’s third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

“This is at once a celebration of the literary riches and resources of Iowa City and a spur to action,” said University of Iowa International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill, who led the UI Writing University committee that submitted the city’s proposal. “We look forward to working with our new partners in the Creative Cities network — to forging dynamic relationships with writers, artists and others committed to the life of discovery. This is a great day for Iowa City.”

Iowa City joins Edinburgh, Scotland, and Melbourne, Australia, as UNESCO Cities of Literature. Other cities in the Creative Cities Network — honoring and connecting cultural centers for cinema, music, crafts and folk arts, design, media arts and gastronomy, as well as literature — include Aswan, Egypt; Santa Fe, N.M.; Berlin, Germany; Montreal, Canada; Popayan, Colombia; Bologna, Italy; Shenzhen, China; and Seville, Spain.

The Creative Cities Network was designed to promote the social, economic and cultural development of cities in both the developed and the developing world. The cities that apply to join to the network seek to promote their local creative scene; they share interest in UNESCO’s mission toward cultural diversity. Once the city is appointed to the network, it can share experiences and create new opportunities for itself and others on a global platform, notably for activities based on the notion of “creative tourism.”

On 18 May, 2008, Amsterdam’s historic centre is the location of the world’s biggest book market. No fewer than 1,000 stalls with books will wind through the city centre. The World Book Market is being held in the context of Amsterdam World Book Capital, a title of great distinction that has been awarded to the Dutch capital by UNESCO. From 23 April, Amsterdam will be buzzing with activities around the importance and pleasure of books and reading for a whole year.

One of these days, a U.S. city will be boo—- oh nevermind.

UNESCO’s granting of the title of World Book Capital to Amsterdam presents the city with a unique opportunity to reaffirm its reputation as a refuge for free speech and the written word, and to highlight its international renown as a literary hub. Amsterdam World Book Capital wants to inspire and propagate dialogue about the freedom of expression and has chosen to do this by adopting the ‘Open Book’ theme as its guiding principle. This theme ties in with Amsterdam’s character as a city of books and publishing, linking the written word with the social realities of today in the Netherlands and abroad. The event also provides a platform for in-depth exploration of sector-specific topics such as copyright, self-censorship and digital media. The three icons of Amsterdam World Book Capital are Spinoza, Anne Frank and Annie M.G. Schmidt, authors who tell the tale of Amsterdam past and present.