Manchester UNESCO City of Literature offers two virtual writer residencies to take place this June during the Festival of Libraries. During the residency, writers will be hosted by one of Manchester’s historic libraries with the opportunity to explore their online collections and archives, meet librarians to find out more about Manchester’s literary heritage and collections, and enjoy virtual tours of the city. They will also be encouraged to be engaged in Manchester's literary community via social media and to produce a new piece of writing responding to Manchester or links between the city and their own UNESCO City of Literature. There is a fee of ￡1,500 for each residency. These residencies are open to published writers with strong links to a UNESCO City of Literature. The deadline is 10 May. For more information, please visit here: https://www.manchestercityofliterature.com/opportunity/virtual-writer-residencies-at-the-festival-of-libraries/

Apr 7, 2021

If you travel Krakow in Poland, you must visit Massolit Books, Krakow’s very own and super charming bookstore specialized in books in English, used and new! Here’s an article about Massolit Books, the first part of Melbourne City of Literature’s article series about bookshops in cities of literature around the world in an Austrailian magazine Books +Publishing. https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/03/31/183827/melbourne-city-of-lit-meets-krakows-massolit-books/?fbclid=IwAR0k3Xjugndp36VWMgTwhYEf8IOAV5zq0TYhOcFw-GxFN31C_eitgOr7YAg

Apr 7, 2021

A week left to submit to 2021 Bucheon Residency! We will be offering two residencies for writers, translators and cartoonists in October-November(4-6 weeks), 2021, hoping that many creative talents who have been interested in Korean culture will get involved. Full details of the residency opportunity can be found here! http://bucheoncityofliterature.or.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?menuid=021001001&pagesize=9&boardtypeid=266&boardid=78149

Apr 5, 2021

Follow the link to explore a collection of books by Asian-Americans. https://time.com/5949026/asian-authors-reading-list/

Mar 29, 2021

This year’s Dublin Literary Award shortlist has been revealed! Warmest congratulations to all the authors & translator! Great to see two diaspora novels on the list. The winner will be announced on May 20th. https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/

Mar 26, 2021

Our sister UNESCO Creative city, Manchester has made this beautiful film to celebrate World Poetry Day. "During the ongoing pandemic, many doors are closed to people but poetry can help open them in different ways and inspire anyone experiencing lockdown. Poems that speak about the power of the imagination were sought, giving hope in dark times and about the door as a gateway or as the start of a new journey as the phasing to come out of national lockdown begins." Poets in order of appearance: Dom Conlon Roma Havers Andrew Oldham Ali Al-Jamri Imtiaz Dharker Mahwi (A classical Kurdish poet, courtesy of Slemani City of Literature) Azucena G. Blanco (from Granada City of Literature) Poems have been specially commissioned from Manchester City of Literature and Manchester Poetry Library at Metropolitan University ,plus sister UNESCO Creative Cities, Granada City of Literature in Spain and Slemani City of Literature in Iraq. In celebrating World Poetry Day, UNESCO recognises the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v47jCU-U9g

Mar 24, 2021

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature’s joint celebration of World Poetry Day has been published on UNESCO’s websites in English and French. https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/content/unesco-creative-cities-literature-join-forces-celebrate-world-poetry-day-2021

Mar 22, 2021

On 21 March 2021, Utrecht UNESCO City of Literature has kicked off an international chain poem to celebrate World Poetry Day. Utrecht’s poet Yentl van Stokkum started an international chain poem by writing the first three lines of verse. Mia You translated them into English. On the 21st day of each subsequent month a poet from one of the 39 UNESCO Cities of Literature will add lines of their own. Poets from the following cities will be contributing to the poem : Edinburgh, Scotland; Wonju, South Korea; Melbourne, Australia; Odessa, Ukraine; Heidelberg, Germany; Manchester, England; Bucheon, South Korea; Durban, South Africa; Dunedin, New Zealand; Nottingham, England; Ulyanovsk, Russia. At the end of the year, Yentl van Stockkum will take up her pen once more give the work a title, and we will bring the participants together to reflect on their poetic collaboration. The theme of the globetrotting poem is ‘polyphony’. The residents of the 39 Cities of Literature speak hundreds of languages, so the chain poem will also serve as a poetic study of multilingualism and polyphony. It will return to Utrecht for a visit every month, so keep an eye on the hashtag #WPDUrecht and follow Utrecht City of Literature on social media to read more about it.

Mar 22, 2021

"My own hope is that as Korea enters ever more fully into the world at large, so too Korean writers will increasingly be enabled to write works which can speak vividly to readers of every continent. The translators are ready, now they are waiting for the writers to catch up with them!" https://koreanliteraturenow.com/essay/foreword-korean-literature-present-past-future

Mar 22, 2021

Here is today’s poem with the poetry prescription for the Poetry Therapy Week to celebrate World Poetry Day (21 March) “It is amazing to get to know each other as everyone has his or her own history. It is a way of encountering a whole different world. In that sense, being connected is somewhat divine and destined in that embracing the person entails everything that transcends space and time. The speaker in this poem enumerates a list of people and things that are specially remembered in her life. A brilliant aspect of this poem is the bond you have with something. It is beautiful to be accompanied by someone in your life.” Held every year on 21 March, World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Practiced throughout history ？ in every culture and on every continent ？ poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace. #WorldPoetryDay #PoetryTherapyWeek #UNESCOCreativeCitiesofLiterature #BucheonCoL

Mar 21, 2021