The UNESCO World Book Capital program in Rio de Janeiro is expected to create a ‘Book Park’ at June’s biennial Rio book fair, as prototyped by planners here. Image: World Book Capital Rio
By Talita Facchini | @talitafacchinii
‘Rio de Janeiro Continues to Read’
On Wednesday (April 23), Rio de Janeiro was officially made UNESCO‘s 2025 World Book Capital, Capital Mundial do Livro.
Brazil’s public-facing book fair, the Bienal do Livro—which alternates each year with São Paulo—is anticipated to serve as the main attraction of the year. Its dates are June 13 to 22.
UNESCO traditionally uses April 23, World Book and Copyright Day, to make its formal World Book Capital announcement. And as the United Arab Emirates’ Sharjah was the first Arabian Gulf city to hold the designation in 2019, this is the first time a Portuguese-language city has been chosen.
The announcement that Rio was in line for this year was made in 2023, and the city has been preparing to highlight the value of books, both for citizens of Rio de Janeiro and for the national Brazilian market at large.
The slogan chosen for the Rio World Book Capital is Rio de Janeiro Continues to Read.
UNESCO’s World Book Capital Pr0gram
Image: World Book Capital Rio
The World Book Capital program’s concept is approaching a quarter century of activity. Rio is the 24th designate. The program at UNESCO in Paris was launched in 1996 at the suggestion of the International Publishers Association (IPA).
In 2001, Madrid became the first city to call itself a World Book Capital. Since then, World Book Capital cities—which vie for the honor—have included Alexandria, New Delhi, Antwerp, Montreal, Torino, Bogota, Amsterdam, Beirut, Ljubljana, Buenos Aires, Yerevan, Bangkok, Port Harcourt, Incheon, Wroclaw, Conakry, Athens, Sharjah, Kuala Lumpur, Tbilisi, Guadalajara, Accra, and Strasbourg.
In a sense, the chance to be a World Book Capital for a year has become a key international token of a culture working to develop and promote itself as a center of literature and reading culture. Analysis of applications includes not just celebratory events but also educational programs, many of the long-running.
Audrey Azoulay
In naming Rio as the 2025 designate, UNESCO director-General Audrey Azoulay says, “Books are vital vehicles to access, transmit, and promote education, science, culture, and information worldwide.
“Thanks to books, we keep ourselves informed, entertained, and are able to better understand our world.
“This is why, each year UNESCO designates a World Book Capital.
“After Accra in 2023, and Strasbourg in 2024, I am pleased to announce the designation of Rio de Janeiro as World Book Capital for 2025.”
Dante Cid
During events around the announcement of the designation, Dante Cid, president of the Brazilian Association of Book Publishers (SNEL, for Sindicato Nacional does Editores de Livros), said, “The opening of Rio as World Book Capital marks a new chapter for Brazil—one that celebrates the book as a bridge, a seed, and a meeting point.
“At SNEL, we reaffirm our commitment to a publishing industry that is diverse, accessible, and vibrant. Our work begins when a book meets a reader—whether in a school, a library, the street, or in the heart of a new idea.
“May this year bring transformative reading experiences, meaningful encounters, and words that lead us toward a more just, critical, and sensitive society.”
The World Book Capital designation is a compelling platform, of course, with which to attract local governmental funding to support reading and literary development: the international public attention and the cachet of being named by UNESCO makes it a good moment for a market not to demonstrate its good intentions on the world stage.
World Capital-Related Events
Part of the Rio World Book Capital programming is anticipated to be a ‘Book Park’ with a Ferris wheel on which citizens hear audiobook clips as they ride. Image: World Book Capital Rio
Brazil’s leading literary award, the Jabuti Prize, organized by the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL), has announced that its 2025 awards ceremony will take place in Rio de Janeiro, in recognition of the city’s UNESCO designation.
This year, the Jabuti Prize will also introduce a new category: the Jabuti Especial for Reading Promotion, dedicated exclusively to reading initiatives carried out in Rio de Janeiro.
During the year, Rio will host a series of public events aimed at promoting books and reading, including:
- An unprecedented exhibition of the works of the late Brazilian poet, playwright, journalist, diplomat, and composer Vinicius de Moraes
- Midnight openings at museums and bookstores
- Traveling literary fairs hosted by carnival samba schools (Samba Enredo, a dancing, marching, and drumming program)
- Book distribution around the city
- Possibly a free audiobook-streaming platform on city buses, currently under consideration by the local government
‘Creativity, Memory, and the Future’
Brazilian Book Chamber president Sevani Matos speaks at the April 23 announcement program for the 2025 UNESCO World Book Capital. Image: World Book Capital Rio
During the announcement events on Wednesday, Sevani Matos, president of the book chamber, said, “Hosting the ceremony in Rio, in such a symbolic year, is a way of renewing our commitment to creativity, memory, and the future.”
Such efforts have a serious underpinning: They’re part of a broader strategy to foster reading and address the findings of Brazil’s major national reading survey, Retratos da Leitura, which has revealed that some 53 percent of Brazilians do not read books.
And with the upcoming book fair, Bienal do Livro, as the focal event of the World Book Capital year, there are plans for the fair to be presented as a literary amusement park, prompting new interest in reading among the citizens.
The fair’s new feature, a “book park,” is expected to include attractions such as a Ferris wheel with audio readings of literary excerpts and characters; a “story maze”; open-air reading plazas; and various immersive and engaging spaces intended to present reading as fun and accessible.
Organized by GL events Exhibitions and the Brazilian Association of Book Publishers, the biennial Rio Book Fair—alternating with its nearby São Paulo counterpart—is considered one of the largest book-publishing events in Brazil.
Its last edition, held in 2023, the Rio fair reported drawing 600,000 visitors, selling 5.5 million books, and featuring 497 publishers, imprints, and distributors.
At the 2023 Rio book fair, the ‘Bienal do Livro,’ reported to have drawn 600,000 attendees. Image: Filbart
More from Publishing Perspectives on UNESCO’s World Book Capital is here, more on book fairs and trade shows in the book publishing industry is here, and more on Brazil and its book business is here. Porter Anderson contributed to this report.
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