Leading digital content distribution platform OverDrive featured Abu Dhabi as guest city in its World Literary Tour, which aims to spotlight the cultural output of selected cities around the world.

OverDrive dedicated the month of June 2025 to celebrating the literary and cultural legacy of Abu Dhabi, as part of the cultural collaboration initiative that brings the platform together with the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC).

OverDrive is a popular platform specialising in digital content distribution, including e-books, audiobooks, magazines, and library lending services. It serves approximately 30,000 public libraries, academic institutions, and schools across the globe, offering users advanced features, such as smart search, format selection, loan management, automatic bookmarking and note-saving, and the ability to return borrowed items without incurring late fees.

Abu Dhabi was selected as guest city in this edition of the tour, in recognition of its outstanding role in enriching Arabic-language content through pioneering cultural projects and initiatives. The tour offered readers, researchers, and enthusiasts around the world with an opportunity to access hundreds of digital titles from ALC publications, spanning various genres such as translation, fiction, poetry, intellectual content, children’s literature, and other fields. These titles were made available through OverDrive’s Libby application for e-book and audiobook borrowing, as well as Kanopy, the platform’s film streaming service.

His Excellency Saeed Hamdan Al Tunaiji, Executive Director of the ALC, said: "Our collaboration with OverDrive forms part of the ongoing Community Campaign to Support Sustainable Reading, launched by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre earlier this year. It marks our second partnership with the platform, following our joint initiative during the Holy Month of Ramadan this year".

"This step aligns with the Centre’s strategic vision to elevate the status of the Arabic language, promote culture and knowledge, and empower Arabic digital content", HE Al Tunaiji added. "It supports efforts to drive a sustainable digital knowledge transformation and leverages the benefits of artificial intelligence and digital-era innovations to enrich community culture and showcase the literary, intellectual, and cultural treasures of the Arabic language".