Rabat launches book capital program
Rabat has launched its World Book Capital 2026 programme to build momentum ahead of its book-fair activity and civic-scale literary programming. (moroccoworldnews.com).
Rabat will open its UNESCO World Book Capital 2026 program on April 24, putting a year of citywide reading events in motion before its main book fair begins. (unesco.org) (en.hespress.com) The launch comes ahead of the 31st International Publishing and Book Fair, scheduled at OLM Souissi in Rabat from April 30 to May 10, 2026, with France as guest of honor. (internationalpublishers.org) (en.hespress.com) Organizers said the fair will bring together books from 61 countries and 720 thinkers and creators, including 565 Moroccan speakers and 155 foreign participants, across more than 204 events. (kbc.co.ke) (en.hespress.com) UNESCO named Rabat the World Book Capital for 2026 on October 8, 2024, citing the city’s 54 publishing houses, growing bookstore network, and one of Africa’s largest international book fairs. (unesco.org) The designation also recognized Rabat’s plans to widen access to books, support the local publishing industry, and fight illiteracy, especially among underserved communities. UNESCO said the official year of celebrations starts on World Book and Copyright Day, April 23, 2026. (unesco.org) Morocco’s culture ministry is using that title to push reading beyond libraries and schools and into cafes, squares, and gardens, Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid said at a press conference on April 14. (en.hespress.com) UNESCO’s Maghreb representative, Eric Falt, said the honor reflected a program built with multiple partners and aimed at making reading accessible to all while leaving a “lasting legacy.” (en.hespress.com) This year’s fair will also center the 14th-century Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, with seminars on travel literature, a dedicated pavilion, rare manuscripts, maps of his route to China, and documentary screenings. (en.hespress.com) Rabat is the 26th city to hold the UNESCO title since the program began in 2001, following Rio de Janeiro in 2025. The next test is whether the April launch turns the designation into a full year of public reading, not just a 10-day fair. (unesco.org)
