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Politics move quickly and opinions evolve. There's a good chance I no longer hold some of the opinions expressed in the post below
—Mustapha
Beirut. World’s Book Capital.
July 6, 2007 · Mustapha Hamoui
Beirut was selected by the United Nation’s cultural agency to be the world’s book capital of 2009.
Our first words..
Needless to say, the number of books read per capita was not the criteria used to select our city, although this award is technically intended to “promote books and reading”.
We got the award for a completely different reason: Beirut was nominated because of its apparent “focus on cultural diversity, dialogue and tolerance”
Unesco’s Director had this to say of Beirut:
the city of Beirut, which is facing great challenges in terms of peace and peaceful coexistence, is recognized for its commitment to dialogue, which is necessary more than ever in the region, and that the book is able to contribute actively towards this goal.