You gotta love this city
It’s official: Melbourne has been granted City of Literature status by UNESCO. The announcement recognises the quality and importance of literature to Melbourne. The centrepiece of the succesful bid is the Centre for Books and Ideas, to be housed at the State Library of Victoria and due to open in 2009.
Youth literature is a vital component of Victoria’s literary culture; think of Sonya Hartnett’s Astrid Lingren Award, for one example. The Centre for Youth Literature is thrilled at the news.
But perhaps the announcement also recognises something else. The dedication of teacher librarians, teachers and public librarians in their support of readers. The hard work of people who promote reading give the life blood to writers and to the, ahem, literature industry. The Centre for Youth Literature relies on such support. So on the day that the announcement is made, we say: take a bow, librarians and teachers. It’s your city of literature, too.
August 20th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Aww, why so humble? I’d imagine that you folks at CYL have played a vital role in celebrating reading and literature, and securing Melbourne’s place as a City of Literature.
And the more we see of projects run by organisations such as yours, the happier we’d be to support and stand behind them. You’re doing an awesome job. :)
August 24th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I note that the word ‘component’ in the notice above grows to an ‘imagine[d]‘ ‘vital role’ in the response which followed. Perhaps true (I hope so), but at this early stage of the Centre for Books and Ideas, I also hope its realization will be not be appropriated by any particular binary - young/old, male/female, coloured/white, right/left, trendy/reclusive - other than in contextual detail. Literature, as any art, is essentially human.