Rabat Designated as World Book Capital for 2026

UNESCO has announced Rabat, Morocco as World Book Capital for the year 2026, after Rio de Janeiro in 2025. This badge is bestowed on Rabat as a crossroad for culture, in which literature and other works of arts coexist with the general spread of knowledge across different walks of communities. A flourishing local book industry provides impetus for education and easy access to literature-a fit action toward what UNESCO aims to achieve toward deeper international understanding of culture.

Rabat boasts of a thriving book ecosystem that hosts 54 publishing houses and boasts of the third largest international book fair in Africa. The increase in the number of bookstores is yet another proof of the readiness of the city to democratize knowledge through this innovation of the creative economy.

Following UNESCO World Book Capital Advisory Committee, Rabat is profoundly committed to literary development, especially to women’s and young readers’ empowerment through literacy projects, as well as to fighting illiteracy in disadvantaged communities. Throughout its World Book Capital year, Rabat will initiate a range of projects to promote sustainable economic development, make access to books easier, and help strengthen local publishing.

A very significant push of the celebration, starting on April 23, 2026, World Book and Copyright Day, would be a major literacy drive aimed to strengthen reading among citizens.

The cities that are awarded the honorary title of World Book Capital take it as a challenge to inspire the use and reading of books among people of all ages, to support cross-cultural dialogue, and to organize numerous events throughout the year. Rabat is going to find its place in a list of past capitals since the program started in 2001, including Madrid, Alexandria, New Delhi, and many others.

The UNESCO World Book Capital Advisory Committee is from the European and International Booksellers Federation, the International Authors Forum, the International Federation of Library Associations, the International Publishers Association, and UNESCO itself. This collaborative effort takes place in attempts to bring emphasis on reading and literature as a whole around the globe, making sure that the light of books spreads throughout without any confinement.