Morocco’s capital will turn classrooms, clinics, tram cars and prison yards into pop-up libraries next year after Rabat learned it will serve as UNESCO’s World Book Capital 2026 and will fold that honour into the 31st International Publishing and Book Fair that opens 1 May. UNESCO’s October 2024 designation praised Rabat’s 54 active publishing houses, its growing network of bookshops and the long-running fair that draws exhibitors from across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
The accolade, handed out annually to one city, is meant to reward sustained efforts to place books “at the heart of civic life,” the agency. Organisers on Tuesday revealed a 342-event calendar built around twelve themes. Rather than confine readings to theatres and galleries, planners intend to send authors into railway stations, orphanages, public squares and university clinics between World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April and the closing ceremony next March.
“We want literature to meet citizens where they already are,” the delegation leader told reporters, citing hospital wards and youth detention centres among confirmed venues.
The concurrent book fair, staged at the OLM Souissi complex 1-10 May, will host 890 exhibitors—320 attending directly and 570 represented by distributors—arriving from 60 countries and displaying more than 130,000 new and classic titles. France will attend as guest of honour, reinforcing linguistic and publishing ties, while the Moroccan side has chosen fourteenth-century traveller Ibn Battuta as the symbolic personality of the edition. Organisers have scheduled 204 panel sessions, workshops and concerts involving 720 writers, scholars and artists, many of whom will later fan out to neighbourhood cultural centres under the year-long program.
City officials expect the paired initiatives to test how far policy can stretch when the target audience is not only bibliophiles but also commuters, patients and marginalised youth. Budget figures and visitor projections have not been released, yet the culture ministry insists every neighbourhood will host at least one free literary activity during the celebration year. Analysts say success will depend on transport links, security and sustained outreach, especially in working-class districts where illiteracy rates remain above the national average.
If visitor traffic and book sales meet early forecasts, Rabat could cement a model other African capitals might copy: linking a trade-oriented book fair with a grassroots campaign that treats access to reading as urban infrastructure rather than an annual festival. Organisers plan quarterly progress reports and will submit a final audit to UNESCO in late 2026, a review that could influence bids from Dakar, Lagos and Johannesburg for future World Book Capital designations.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
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By This original article was produced by the ImNews editorial team
Source: moroccoworldnews
Source: Ihab Ou-ouda
