This Friday the Mayor of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, Arturas Zuokas announced the signing of the application for announcing Vilnius the World Book capital for 2014 prepared by the Publishers ‘Association of Lithuania (AIL) and the Writers’ Union.

According to the publishers, the granting of the World Book Capital title will encourage literacy, the publication of works of Lithuanian authors as well will ensure successful realization of many projects in the field of book arts and publishing.

Status of the World Book Capital is provided by UNESCO and the International Publishers Association. This status was already granted to ten cities: Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Monreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010).

At the moment, this status belongs to Buenos Aires and in 2013 it will handed to Bangkok.