Network symposium UNESCO City of Literature Edinburgh

Jantine van der West, staff member for Citizen Science and Knowledge Utilisation at the Fryske Akademy, recently travelled to Edinburgh in Scotland for a UNESCO City of Literature network symposium. 53 cities around the world have been designated by UNESCO as City of Literature, as part of UNESCO's wider Creative Cities Network initiative. The programme was initiated in 2004 to promote social, economic and cultural development in cities. Edinburgh was then one of the first to receive the City of Literature designation; Leeuwarden received the designation in 2019.

Academics from various universities from Cities of Literature gathered at the networking symposium, to share best practices and talk about the challenges and opportunities of City of Literature in their cities. Van der West: ‘It was interesting to see how other research institutions together with the Cities of Literature are setting up wonderful projects that have a real impact on society, mostly at the local level, but sometimes also (inter)nationally. This symposium made it clear to me how literary heritage can be made tangible and how scientific research can play a role in this.’

After the symposium, participants visited the Writers' Museum in Edinburgh and were shown presentations on successful joint projects between universities and Cities of Literature. The two-day symposium ended with a special Writers‘ Showcase, where songwriter Conor O’ Brien (of the Irish band Villagers) read three of his works, as did English poet Hollie McNish and Afghan-German poet Sadaf Zahedi.

More information

- Conference website Edinburgh Cities of Literature Conference 2024
- Edinburgh City of Literature
- Leeuwarden City of Literature