Friday, 22. 4. 2011

Ljubljana – wbc 2010

Ljubljana is passing the title of UNESCO World Book Capital to Buenos Aires.

In the year in which Ljubljana has borne the title of UNESCO World Book Capital we have carried out a programme that has brought a range of original promotions for broadening the accessibility of books as well as the promotion of literature, writers, books and reading. The basic starting point of the programme was the integration and linkage of all the elements of the literary chain from writer to reader. The programme 'Ljubljana – World Book Capital' was undoubtedly the most important and most widespread cultural event in Ljubljana in the period from 23 April 2010 to 22 April 2011, when the Slovenian capital carried the UNESCO title.

The diverse agents, from public institutes, publishing houses to NGOs implemented 92 wide-ranging projects that under the umbrella of the 'Ljubljana – World Book Capital 2010' programme comprised 1,651 events in a single year.

Results of the programme Ljubljana – WBC 2010

The key results of the programme Ljubljana – WBC 2010 can be divided into three parts.

Infrastructural results

• Since September 2010 Ljubljana has had the first house of literature in Slovenia, the Trubar House of Literature, which has in eight months hosted 284 events.
• The first children's bookshop in Ljubljana Kres pod Gradom ('Bonfire under the Castle') has since April 2010 had a rich offer for the youngest.
• Northern Park with reading portals.
• The labyrinth of arts is an innovative element in a public space and an attempt to cultivate the public space in the importance of books.
• A new local library at Zadvor in eastern Ljubljana.

Content results

• The start of the biweekly publication of the Outlook for Cultural Art and Society.
• The 'Books for Everyone' project provided 21 new books in a print run of 8,000 copies at a price of €3, that were for sale at 220 outlets across Slovenia.
• The Literature of the World Festival – Fabula 2010 drew the most important global authors to Slovenia
• A range of exhibitions put in centre stage books, words and phrases while a significant benefit was the unique exhibition of miniature books V majhnem plašču besed ('In a small layer of words') from the collection of Dr Martin Žnideršič, who has donated his collection of more than 3,000 miniature books to Ljubljana.
• The Library under the Canopy has given parks and other open spaces new literary content and new identity.
• The 'Ljubljana we read' project has distributed 21,000 books to Ljubljana three year olds and first graders.
• The Slovenian Ministry of Education and Sport declared the school year 2010/11 as the school year of books.
• At the Global Book Summit international congress, participants opened a new quality of discussion about the book and the Ljubljana Resolution on books was adopted, which proposes to the governments of the world and professional associations in the literary field concrete and complex guidelines to promote development in the literary field.

Symbolic results

• For the first time ever, Slovene was heard at the Verdi Theatre in Trieste with the staging of Boris Pahor's novel Necropolis
• Membership of ICORN proves de facto that Ljubljana is consciously on the path of many cosmopolitan cities that value creativity and freedom of the pen.
• Ljubljana has been given a new monument to the Slovenian protestant writers and printers.

'Ljubljana – World Book Capital 2010' has introduced a new discourse on books and literary culture in the knowledge that the book is a basis for the development of the individual and society and its programme laid a solid foundation for the winning of the permanent UNESCO title of City of Literature, joining Iowa, Melbourne, Edinburgh and Dublin.

The 'Ljubljana – World Book Capital 2010' programme has left a mark and formed a firm basis for what is to come for developing the field of books from its successor Buenos Aires.

City of Ljubljana Department of Culture