From September 8 to 12, 2025, Ljubljana City of Literature together with the City of Ljubljana, hosted 55 representatives from 41 different countries around the world who represent and lead UNESCO Cities of Literature programs.

Angoulême • Barcelona • Bremen • Bucheon • Dublin • Edinburgh • Exeter • Granada • Gothenburg • Heidelberg • Hobart • Iowa City • Kraków • Kuhmo • Leeuwarden • Lillehammer • Lviv • Lyon • Manchester • Melbourne • Milano • Nanjing • Norwich • Nottingham • Odesa • Okayama • Prague • Reykjavik • Seattle • Slemani • Jakarta • Taif • Tartu • Tukums • Utrecht • Vilnius • Wroclaw • Wonju • Québec

The meeting is intended to combine the internal work of the network with an exploration of literary Ljubljana. Over the course of five days, in addition to the internal work of the network, delegates got to know literary Ljubljana, its venues, and programs.

 

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network was established in 2004 in seven fields: literature, design, film, gastronomy, music, intermedia art, and crafts. Recently, the field of architecture was added.

The UNESCO Cities of Literature Network currently consists of 53 cities. Ljubljana acquired the title in December 2015 and is celebrating ten years of membership in the network.

 

In 2017, the City Municipality of Ljubljana authorized the Divja misel institute, which also manages the Vodnik homestead, the Library under the Trees, and the Slovenian Center of Illustration, to manage the office and title of UNESCO City of Literature. At the office of Ljubljana, UNESCO City of Literature, the team connect and promote literary Ljubljana and prepare numerous programs to increase the presence of books in the city.

 

Due to its active role and numerous good practices, Ljubljana, UNESCO City of Literature, was selected to host the annual meeting of the UNESCO Cities of Literature Network from September 8 to 12.

 

From Monday to Thursday, a rich program is took place at various venues in Ljubljana, presenting literary Ljubljana to international guests. We learned about literary programs and festivals, visited venues, heard about and saw the work of the city library network, visited the National and University Library, attended a Vilenica festival evening, translator walks, opened a discussion with international guests at the Faculty of Arts on the importance of university creative writing programs, learned about programs for children and young people at the Vodnik Homestead, and spending Friday in Bled, where we were introduced to the work of the Slovenian PEN Center, the ICORN network, and the history of the Bled meetings.

 

The Manchester City of Literature team took copies of Manchester Multilingual City Poet Nóra’s Blascsók’s poem Light Echo, translated into 4 languages to share with delegates as well as special gifts to the Ljubljana team and libraries.

 

Professor John McAuliffe from the University of Manchester, Director of Creative Manchester and Manchester City of Literature board member gave a presentation at Ljubljana University on the success of Manchester Creative Writing courses across higher education.

 

Manchester City of Literature also gave two presentations during the conference, one on 2026 International Mother Language Day plans which will take place in February and include a new element celebrating endangered languages; and another on how the network’s press group is supporting the activity of the Cities of Literature.

All images credit to Matej Pusnik.