Kozhikode to receive UNESCO's 'City of Literature' honour; Malayala Manorama Hortus 24 hails city

Lisbon: Kozhikode from Kerala and Gwalior from Madhya Pradesh will be awarded the respective titles of 'City of Literature' and 'Creative City of Music' at a function to be held at the Portugal city of Braga on Monday.

Kozhikode City Mayor Beena Philip and Corporation Secretary KU Bini are in Portugal to accept the honour.

Braga will turn the creative capital of the world as representatives of cities across the globe assemble to take part in the annual conference of the Unesco Creative City Network (UCCN), which will be held from July 1 to 5. This year also marks the 20th year of the setting up of the network.

This year, the focus of the UCCN is 'bringing youth to the table for the next decade’. At the Braga annual conference, cities added to the list will get a chance to showcase their cultural advancements and hold a dialogue regarding the diverse factors that shape cultural governance, bolster investment initiatives, and cultivate diverse cross-sectoral collaborations and innovation.

Gwalior and Kozhikode from India are among the 55 new cities that have been added to the UCCN. The new list was published on its website on World Cities Day, which falls on October 31. There are 350 cities on the list.

The Network covers seven distinctive yet interactive creative fields — Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.

Hortus-2024
Malayala Manorama's cultural festival, Hortus-2024, congratulates Kozhikode for becoming India's first Unesco 'City of Literature'. The cultural fest will be held from November 1 to 3 in Kozhikode.