India’s first UNESCO ‘City of Literature’

Current Context : Recently, Kozhikode in Kerala declared as the India’s first UNESCO ‘City of Literature’.

• Kerala also announced that June 23 will be celebrated annually as ‘City of Literature’ Day in Kozhikode.

ABOUT KOZHIKODE

• It is also known as Calicut
• Located on Malabar Coast in Kerala.
• It was the capital of the powerful medieval kingdom of Zamorin.
• On 7 June 2012, Kozhikode was given the tag of “City of Sculptures”(Shilpa Nagaram)

ABOUT UNESCO CREATIVE CITIES NETWORK (UCCN).

• Established in
• Objective : to promote cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
• Cities covered: Around 350 cities.
• Other Indian cities on UCCN:
  • Music: Gwalior, Chennai, Varanasi
  • Film: Mumbai
  • Gastronomy: Hyderabad
  • Crafts and Folk Art: Jaipur and Srinagar