Public Diplomacy to Write Home About

Can literature be a vehicle for public diplomacy? Given the abundance of literary-centric headlines showcased this week in PD News, the pen certainly seems to point to yes. Russia and Iran strengthened three centuries of cultural exchanges at the 28th annual Moscow Book Festival, while in Mexico, a local publisher launched a Spanish-language book truck in cooperation with the Mexican consulate in San Diego, in order to “promote Spanish-language learning, especially among the children of Latin American families”. In Mali, “young people are reading short stories teaching morals of tolerance, justice and freedom,” and in the UK, the Royal Shakespeare Company has closed “the gap between rap and the writer” by “remix[ing]’ Shakespeare’s work “through a hip-hop lens.”

• Activists in Iran Pen Open Letter to Americans on Nuclear Deal – Politico
• Mexican Publisher Rolls Out Spanish-Language Book Truck In San Diego - KPBS
• Salehi: Moscow Book Fair an Opportunity for Cultural Exchange - IBNA
• Shakespeare Gets Hip-Hop Treatment With App – The New York Times
• Short Stories to Counter Violent Extremism – Devex
• The Rise of Bulgakov Diplomacy – Foreign Policy

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Photo by Barron Webster | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0