Word – the University of Aberdeen Writers Festival, flew the flag for Aberdeen this week as Edinburgh was declared the world's first City of Literature by the United Nations' cultural body Unesco.
Word Producer Elly Rothnie represented the North-east literary scene at the official ceremony in Paris to give Edinburgh the full backing of Word – Scotland 's second biggest literary festival.
The Scottish Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Patricia Ferguson led a delegation to Paris to present to Unesco Edinburgh's big idea for the world: a plan for a global network of Cities of Literature – with Edinburgh as the first member of a growing global club.
The bid was put to Unesco officials at the Paris ceremony yesterday (October 13), and it was announced by the Assistant Director-General of Culture at Unesco, Mr Mounir Bouchenaki, that the plan will be officially endorsed by Unesco and that Scotland's capital city Edinburgh is to be the first recipient of the new title.
At the official ceremony, Ms Ferguson presented to the British ambassador to Unesco a specially produced two-volume dossier outlining the concept of Cities of Literature and Edinburgh's case to become the inaugural city. After the ceremony, Mr Bouchenaki confirmed that Unesco has ratified the scheme, with Edinburgh forging ahead to develop the network of Cities of Literature.
Word Producer Elly Rothnie said she was delighted that Word was represented when the landmark announcement was made.
She said: “This declaration will provide a gateway to highlight all of Scotland 's literary festivals and I am thrilled that Word could be there to support the Edinburgh bid.
“This will set the benchmark for the rest of the world and will provide an ideal platform for celebrating Scotland 's literary assets.”
Edinburgh 's City of Literature bid has been generated and developed by the Scottish literary and publishing community. The Scottish Arts Council gave seed money and encouragement; the concept was then refined and received formal backing from the Scottish Executive and the Department for Culture. The bid was spearheaded by James Boyle, the chairman of Scotland 's Cultural Commission.
* Word celebrates its fifth birthday in 2005 and organisers are planning the biggest and best festival yet for its anniversary year, with a weekend of readings, workshops, music and poetry, from Friday to Sunday, May 13 to 15.
The Word Festival has flourished by going annual in 2004 where it celebrated record audience figures as well as its strongest and most diverse line-up of literary events including, word and music events, art exhibitions, a Gaelic language programme and master-classes.
Last year's Word festival attracted such best-selling names as Ian Rankin, Rhona Cameron, and Alexander McCall Smith, and event organisers promise an equally impressive line-up for Word 05.
For more information on Word 05, visit www.abdn.ac.uk/word.