Going Back to the Books

by Simon Griver

Despite the temptations posed by television, computers and even the increasingly popular Internet, Israelis appear not to have lost their flavor for reading. An estimated 45 percent of Israel's population visits book fairs during the annual Hebrew Book Week, held throughout the country in early summer. Sales statistics also show that, in Israel at least, books are far from obsolete: Amnon Ben Shmuel, managing director of the Book Publishers' Association of Israel, reveals that book sales in Israel are on the rise again after many years of decline.

Sales peaked in 1987, when Israelis bought 14 million books, but the advent of the personal computer and other diversions, like cable television, saw sales slide to 9.5 million by 1993. In 1996, Israelis bought more than 11 million books. Per capita, this is on par with the world's highest book consumers - Scandinavia and Iceland.

"The immigration to Israel of more than 700,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union," explains Ben Shmuel, "who are, on average, very well educated and literate, has given a great boost to Israel's book industry."

Israel boasts more than 200 publishing houses, including 70 major publishing enterprises, producing books mostly in Hebrew, with a large minority in Arabic, English and Russian. Ben Shmuel also notes that Israel publishes over 4,000 new books each year, or an average of ten new titles each day. This is the second highest per-capita output of any country; the highest belongs to the People's Republic of China. Hebrew Book Week is an Israeli tradition of unique scope and popularity. In cities and small towns across the country, parks and squares fill with booths in which publishers and book stores display and sell their wares. "In other places in the world, there are some city and even regional events," observes Ben Shmuel, "but nothing on this scale.

This year, there were fairs in 15 major cities and 40 smaller towns. It is a colorful event, which draws people who might not otherwise purchase books." The first Hebrew Book Week was held in Tel Aviv in 1926 by several local publishers. The modern event, in its current nationwide format, has been held every year since 1961. Another major literary event in Israel is the Jerusalem International Book Fair, held biennially in Israel's capital, which is the world's second largest book fair.

Israel also earns many millions of dollars each year from the sale of translation rights of the works of leading novelists, such as Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua, as well as young writers like Noa Ben Artzi. Ben Artzi, the granddaughter of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote an account of her grandfather's life which became an international bestseller, translated into numerous languages.