The National Library's traditional report data indicates a decline in the number of books published • In contrast, there has been an increase in guidebooks - mainly in those dealing with spirituality and personal empowerment

• More poetry books. Library

  Photo: 

  Oren Ben Hakun

A sharp rise in prose and poetry publishing in Israel, an increase in the publication of guidebooks, and an increase in the publication of children's and youth books - these are some of the world's figures from the National Library's annual books report for 2019.

The National Library's report accompanies Hebrew Book Week every year. This year, Book Week events were canceled due to the Corona virus, but the report was published and contains some interesting data, most notably a significant increase in publishing prose and poetry books.

In 2019, 1,750 prose and poetry books were published in Israel (1,274 books of which are Israeli source books), compared with 1,280 books in 2018 (840 of which were original books).

In Israel, 8,225 books were published last year, a slight decrease compared to 8,571 books published in 2018 (although the decline may be due to a delay in transferring books to the library following the Corona crisis).

Of the total printed books published in Israel last year, more than a third (36%) were prose books, 9% textbook and instructional books, and 55% reference books. Despite the high figure, this is a 10% decrease in the publication of non-fiction books compared to 2018. In fact, the field of guidebooks flowered - a 48% increase over the previous year, mainly in books dealing with spirituality and personal empowerment.

The number of children's and youth books has risen - 1,245 books of this kind came to the National Library in 2019, 19% more than the previous year. It has also been noted that 1,190 digital books and 403 audio books have been picked up in the library - a kind that is in bloom in the western world.

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The National Library has dedicated a separate research chapter to the biographies this year, of which 18% of biographies that were published in 2019 were written on women - the highest figure in the country. In 1950, for example, only 9% of biographies were written on women's characters. It also shows that 34% of biographies that were published between 1950 and 2019 dealt with rabbis from various streams, 17% wrote about Holocaust-related figures, and 9% wrote about IDF victims and victims of hostilities.

Since the establishment of the state, more than 24,500 biographies have been published in Israel, 84% of which have been published in Hebrew.