(June 8, 2021 / JNS)
The National Library of Israel released its annual report on the state of Israeli publishing, shedding light on “The Year of COVID-19” (2020).
Some interesting statistics and trends were found, including:
- The nonfiction genre was the most hard-hit publishing genre affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and the field of Jewish studies was the most severely impacted, showing a drop of 33 percent compared to 2019;
- Some 70 books dealing with COVID-19 were published in 2020—25 of them children’s books, and another 25 books dealing with Jewish and halachic aspects related to the virus;
- 2020 saw an increase of 73 percent in electronic books;
- 2,000 fewer books came out in 2020 (6,487 books) compared to 2019 (8,225 books), marking a dramatic decrease;
- Poetry books outnumbered original books of prose for the first time;
- The relative share of prose and poetry books increased significantly (28 percent of all books published in 2020 compared to 22 percent in 2019).
See the full report here.
