Iowa City Designated World’s Third City of Literature

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) just designated Iowa City, Iowa to be the world's third City of Literature. A University of Iowa news release notes that “[m]ore than 1,200 emerging and established writers from more than 120 countries have been in residence at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program.” Also: “In 2006, for a population of 63,027, there were 63,713 public library patrons; borrowers as a percentage of population reached 101 percent.” This probably explains why the city was chosen as a City of Literature instead of a City of Mathematics.

The other two UNESCO Cities of Literature are Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia.