UNESCO
Antwerp
The city of Antwerp was selected as World Book Capital for 2004. The chosen theme ABC 2004, evolved to XYZ 2005 in the second part of its programme where four exhibitions were devoted to the written heritage of the city.
Awarded in
2004
Description
With a budget of 1.7 million euros, several literary projects took place throughout the year including word festivals, theatre street performances, public readings, celebrations of authors, letter-writing contests by mobile phone, publishing of books in collaboration with artists, exhibitions as well as free distribution of blank notebooks to encourage writing. Poems were printed on the wrappers of bread and were made available to the public. In the main hall of DeSingel, Antwerp’s international art and cultural centre, a metal cube was installed which housed a library.
