Norwich has been named as England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, joining an elite international network comprising Iowa City, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Dublin and Reykjavik. The accreditation follows a bid led by Writers’ Centre Norwich with partners including the UEA Creative Writing programme. It recognises Norwich’s literary heritage, contemporary strengths and future potential in the field of literature, creative writing, reading and the literary arts. The news comes after a flagship project to develop an International Centre for Writing was given a £3 million grant from Arts Council England’s Capital Investment Programme. Earlier this year the UEA Creative Writing programme was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education, the UK’s most prestigious higher education award, in recognition of its pioneering role in establishing the academic discipline of Creative Writing in the UK, the unrivalled success of its alumni over the last forty years, and its continuing importance as an internationally renowned centre of excellence.
Norwich announced as England’s first UNESCO City of Literature
