Hobart
Hobart is home to the country's oldest independent bookshop. It is the birthplace of a number of world-renowned and award-winning writers, including Richard Flanagan, Amanda Lohrey and Heather Rose. Hobart celebrates this rich literary heritage every year during the Tasmanian Writers Festival and Tasmanian Reading Week. To safeguard and renew its local talent, the municipality funds literary initiatives granting loans at preferential rates. Funded projects include the 鈥淪mall Press Zine鈥 festival, the 鈥淥asis Women Poets鈥 anthology and the 鈥淧oetry in Motion鈥 project, all of which help to make reading and writing more accessible throughout the city.
The special place occupied by literature in city policy can be explained through its instrumental role in raising the profile of the Aboriginal population and in building a shared memory. Support for programmes such as "Crowther Reinterpreted" and "Takara Utas" illustrates the Creative City's desire to strengthen social cohesion through its thriving literary scene.
By joining the UCCN, Hobart hopes to bolster international cooperation and facilitate intercultural dialogue through literature. In particular, for International Literacy Day 2024, the innovative "Follow the Sunset" plans to organize a 24-hour live broadcast, during which an author from one Creative City per time zone will tell a bedtime story.
Added value:
As a Creative City of Literature, Hobart is dedicated to:
Exploring and sharing innovations in terms of creativity and culture to promote literacy among young people;
Building a network of designers who can use their creativity to help combat global warming and to build a sustainable urban future;
Working to develop partnerships in the Asia Pacific region and with Creative Cities whose national governments are signatories to the international Antarctic agreements; and
Working on behalf of indigenous artists through the Network, particularly with a view to safeguarding indigenous languages.
