The city of Athens is named World Book Capital for 2018, by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
Athens was chosen for the quality of its activities, supported by the entire book industry. The proposed programme includes meetings with writers, translators and illustrators, concerts, thematic exhibitions, poetry readings and workshops for publishing professionals.
Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital undertake to promote books and reading and to organize activities over the year which starts with the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day (23 April).
Athens is the 18th city to become World Book Capital. It was preceded by 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) and Conakry (2017).
