6,037 books were taken in by the National Library in 2023, the library announced in its annual book report, which was published in honor of Book Week. This is a decrease of about 10% from 2022, during which 6,791 books were published. The library says that a significant part of the decrease is due to delays and changes made in publishing houses during and following the war, and that it is felt especially in the fields of Torah literature and Jewish studies.
By law, two copies of every book published in Israel are sent to the National Library, so it has a comprehensive database of the books published in Israel.
More than 82 books about the October 7 attack and the war in Gaza have been published until May 2024, including at least 8 topical Passover Haggadahs written in connection with the abductees and the war, and at least 21 books of remembrance and heroism. According to the library’s announcement, many memorial and commemorative books are known to be published in October 2024, in preparation for the anniversary of the war.
About 30% of the 2023 books are prose and poetry books, about 22% Jewish books, about 17% children’s and youth books, and the rest from other categories.
93.5% of this year’s books were in Hebrew, 3% in English, 2.4% in Arabic, 0.5% in Russian and 0.6% in other languages. The library said that the number of books in Arabic does not reflect that most of the books in Arabic read in Israel are printed in neighboring countries.
The number of books published in 2023 in digital format, including books published in print in previous years, is 1,761. This is an increase of about 40% compared to 1,258 digital books published in 2022. The number of comic books increased to 108, an increase of about 35% from last year, with about 35% of the comic books intended for the ultra-orthodox sector.
84% of all books published in 2023 are source books in Hebrew, slightly less than previous years. Most of the published translations are from English (68%), and the rest from French (5%), German (3%) and 30 other languages.
Gender-wise: women wrote 60% of all books. They wrote 67% of fiction books, 53% of short story books and 49% of poetry books. Women wrote 86% of all biographies and autobiographies about women, and men wrote 87% of the biographies and autobiographies written about men.
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2024-06-19 08:04:31