Kerala’s cities deserve UNESCO World Book Capital title, says CM Pinarayi Vijayan at KLIBF

Kerala cities vying for UNESCO World Book Capital title, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan advocates for Thiruvananthapuram at KLIBF.

If any city in India deserves the title of ‘World Book Capital’ of the United Nations, the cities of Kerala should be considered for the title first, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the third edition of the Kerala Legislature International Book Festival (KLIBF) in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (January 7, 2025).

UNESCO has a project to recognise a city as World Book Capital every year. Delhi was once named the UNESCO World Book Capital.

“The capital of Kerala also deserves to be named the capital of book festivals. Considering the popularity of the book festivals in Thiruvananthapuram, the Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly can send a letter to UNESCO with a special reference to this book festival,” he said.

“We hope that UNESCO will accept the proposal, as Thiruvananthapuram deserves the position of World Book Capital of UNESCO just like Kozhikode, which is known as the city of world literature,” he added.

“In 1945, the year when the UN was formed, the library movement was started in Kerala. The opening of the National Book Stall is also on that occasion. Now, Kerala will be the only State in the country to have up to eight libraries in each panchayat and 8,000 reading rooms across the State. There are about 30 small and medium literature festivals in Kerala. Some of the festivals are popularly known by the name of the place itself, like Wayanad, Peruvanam, Payyannur, and Kadathanad. Even during the era of e-reading, the number of physical bookshops has been increasing in Kerala,” the Chief Minister said.

“Kerala was instrumental in pioneering the first paperback book revolution in the country, a literary revolution based on the principle of books for the masses. In 1956, as many as 10,000 copies of Chemmeen penned by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai were made available to the public at a mere ₹1.25 per book, marking the start of the paperback revolution in Kerala. Today, Kerala’s concept of books and literature is growing from books to masses to literature to masses,” he said, adding that the State now really deserves to be marked on the map of world literature festivals.