Much like an honorary degree, the title of World Book Capital blurs the dividing line between official sanctions and mercenary PR grabs.
In Bangkok’s case at least, it looks like the two have achieved a happy medium.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has chosen Bangkok as this year’s Capitol because of the city’s efforts toward increasing literacy. Bangkok will assume the title on April 23—a date optimistically christened “World Book and Copyright Day” by UNESCO.
In celebration of its bibliophile status, the city is planning a variety of events to promote reading.
The Nation quoted Deputy Governor Taya Teepsuwan as saying that, “A Thai person reads only two to five books per year, but in Bangkok we want to increase that number to 10 books per year in 2013.”
Sounds great. If anyone’s interested, we’re willing to lend out our extremely dog-eared copy of Fifty Shades of Grey to kick off the festivities.
