Collaboration between ICLA and UNESCO Memory of the World Programme

A formal cooperation agreement between the AILC-ICLA and the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme (MoW) was signed on 29 July 2025 within a Special Session of the XXIV International Seoul Congress. 

The collaboration will focus on the international study of the intersections of documentary heritage (including the International Memory of the World Register) and literature, and on sharing knowledge to enhance international dialogue and mutual understanding. In particular, we have agreed to cooperate in the fields of:

Translations, to develop jointly a “Manifesto for Safeguarding the Memory of Translators and Translations”, and to reflect on various aspects in the field of the history of literature, documentary heritage, translations, and translators, including diasporic translators;

Lost Memory, through the participation in the Working Group of the MoW Sub-Committee on Education and Research (SCEaR), “Lost Memory: Research on the Reconstruction of Lost and Dispersed Libraries” (working title);

Metaphors of Memory, through events that will help develop understanding of the cultural contexts of Memory of the World;

International Memory of the World Register, with the ICLA providing or helping identify, when required, expertise in the evaluation of nominations for the International MoW Register that concern literature. The inscriptions of literary documents and collections into the Register can be objects of research.

Joint publications, including joint volumes or articles on comparative literature and documentary heritage in the SCEaR Newsletter;

Further fields of cooperation will continue to be explored.

More news will follow as the work starts. In the meantime, ICLA members interested in participating in any of these areas are invited to contact Lucia Boldrini ([email protected]).

Watch the video of the Special Session “Memory of the World: A Cooperation between the ICLA and the UNESCO Documentary Heritage Programme”at the Seoul Congress.