LAST week , Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014 team was honoured with a welcome gift from the Deputy Mayor of Bangkok at the opening of a series of special events to mark the launch of the Thai city’s tenure as UNESCO World Book Capital City for 2013.

Bangkok  on April 23 rd   formally accepted the WBCC baton from the Armenian city of Yerevan which has had a successful run in 2012. UNESCO confers the title of World Book Capital on a city in recognition of its dedication to promoting books and reading.

Port Harcourt, Nigeria  was recently nominated as Bangkok’s successor thanks to a bid put forward by the Rainbow Book Club who are working in conjunction with the Rivers State government.

Strategic partnerships

The Port Harcourt team has been focusing on promoting the city’s plans for 2014 and networking to form strategic partnerships over the past few days. Fresh from a successful run at the London Book Fair, they are set to participate in the Bangkok opening events alongside delegates from a number of countries including Armenia, Russia, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Singapore and China.

At the event, delegates were treated to cultural displays and literary exhibitions and they  witnessed the launch of a number of initiatives that would run throughout the year.

Rainbow founder, Mrs Koko Kanlango also  contributed  to an international conference entitled ‘Reading for the Future, the Future of Reading’  which took place on Sunday 21st as part of the inaugural events.