Almost 130 books for National Book Prize contest

A total of 129 books are participating in this year's edition of the National Book Prize.

Books published last year are eligible to participate.

Apart from the book entries, eight persons were nominated for the prize that honours a personality that has contributed in an indispensible way to the world of books. This prize, which was awarded for the first time last year, was won by Mikiel Spiteri, known as Kilin.

The books presented for this year's competition are divided as follows: literary prose, novels and short stories - 18; non-fiction prose - 29; poetry - eight; drama - two; research works - 33; and books for children and adolescents - 39.

A group of experts will now scrutinise the books to check that they fall in the right category.

Once the group concludes its work, a list of participating books in their respective categories will be published.

The results will be announced in November in a special ceremony during the Book Fair.