The emirate was selected because of its innovative and inclusive application, with a community-focused activity program containing creative proposals to engage the very large migrant population, a UNESCO statement said, according to oneindia.com.
"I applaud the nomination of Sharjah as the World Book Capital as well as the efforts undertaken by the city to make reading available to as many people as possible, in particular the marginalized populations, as a motor for social inclusion, creativity and dialogue," said UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova.
The accolade is an important addition to Sharjah's existing portfolio of milestones like, 'Capital of Arab Culture' (1998), 'Capital of Islamic Culture' (2014) and 'Capital of Arab Tourism' (2015).
The Sharjah is the first in the PGCC and third in the Arab world and Middle East, to have received this recognition. The PGCC countries include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Sharjah has been chosen for the quality of its literary and cultural activities, and for its unfailing efforts to make books accessible to the entire population of the nation, the statement said.
Sharjah is the 19th city to become 'World Book Capital'. It was preceded by Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Yerevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wrocław (2016), Conakry (2017) and Athens (2018).
Sharjah hosts more than 1,500 publishers from across the world at SIBF. Another premier cultural event is the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival (SCRF).
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