Nominations for World Book Capital 2025 must be submitted to the UNESCO Secretariat in English or French by Sunday, April 16, 2023, via the official website.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, through its Directorate General, invites permanent delegations and observers to UNESCO to submit their nominations for the World Book Capital 2025. Nominations must be submitted to the UNESCO Secretariat in English or French by Sunday, April 16, 2023, via the official website.

The International Authors’ Forum (IAF), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the International Publishers’ Association (IPA), and the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) are partners and participants in this initiative, with UNESCO on the Advisory Committee.

Each year, the Advisory Committee submits to the Director-General of UNESCO its proposals for the designation of the World Book Capital for one year, starting on April 23 (on this occasion, World Book and Copyright Day). The cities of Accra (Ghana) and Strasbourg (France) have been chosen as World Book Capital 2023 and World Book Capital 2024, respectively.

To carry out this call for applications, UNESCO is requesting assistance to encourage cities and municipalities to apply. The application form, as well as the nomination processes, are also now available.

About the World Book Capitals

Cities designated as World Book Capitals by UNESCO undertake to promote books and reading for all ages and population groups, within and beyond their borders, and to organize a program of activities throughout the year.

Strasbourg is the 24th city to hold this title since 2001, following Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016), Conakry (2017), Athens (2018), Sharjah, (2019), Kuala Lumpur (2020), Tbilisi (2021), Guadalajara (2022) and Accra (2023).

The UNESCO World Book Capital Advisory Committee is composed of representatives of the European and International Booksellers Federation, the International Authors’ Forum, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, the International Publishers’ Association, and UNESCO.