Today, the National Book Fair opens its doors to the public at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. And it is the National Book Council and the Department of Libraries’ great pleasure each year to welcome to the historical hall the thousands of visitors who flock to enjoy one of the world’s oldest sources of wisdom: the book. In spite of all that has been said and written by so many prophets of doom, the book is still with us and going from strength to strength and definitely better presented than ever before.
I am not saying the world in which we are living is not affecting books and their sales. It is certainly affecting the form that some of them have taken. Some have, in fact, left behind paper and ink for good and have taken on the structure of a monitor, with electronically generated text instead of print.
We insist these too are books that are contributing a lot towards facilitating access to relatively inexpensive reading. This form is adding to the number of those who love reading, specifically because some prefer hardware crafted from technology. But, intrinsically, I have an emotional affinity with traditional books – those made from paper pages, with the smell of ink still fresh on them as they come off the printing press; pages that can be felt by fingers and which provide a tactile dimension that no electronic book can ever have.
I have to admit the ties I have to the book in its traditional form are first and foremost emotional ones. I actually measure my own life against the ruler of my tastes in books at any given time. The books I read are placed in my home library, where I can see them and visit them again whenever I wish to. There I still have the books full of rainbow-like illustrations from my childhood, the thrillers and fantasy and science fiction books of my youth, the academic books of my student and professional life… and directly linked with each one of them are thoughts and feelings I had as I read them and that have remained bonded with them in an eternal association that means a lot to me.
The National Book Fair is full of books. They are mostly traditional ones, of every type and appearance, of every form and size, of every subject and topic. Whoever comes to visit the fair will find one or another of those memory-filled books, and, maybe more important still, the visitor will most probably find books that will generate new memories for the future: books that change lives, that sow ideas, or that simply entertain… help the reader escape in difficult or sorrowful moments… that silence the shouting of a sometimes cruel reality with the author’s fantasy, the illustrator’s skill, the dedication of the printer and the publisher’s risk, that is also filled with love for the renewal of culture.
The book is never just a book. It is all that I have mentioned here and more. And the Malta Book Fair is full of many thousands of books, each of which calls out with a particular lilt and song.
Having said that, I must admit the publishing industry in Malta is not at a happy moment. Many of our publishers are in financial straits that need to be abated by more national publisher-friendly measures. There is a lot being done but it is hardly enough. The fact that publishers still produce wonderful books is to their credit. These books certainly provided a show for the foreign lovers of books who visited the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. The National Book Council helped the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts to organise the event, a step in the right direction if we are to expand our markets. But a step that needs to be one of many.
The visitors to the Malta Book Fair will be able to see just how rich the Maltese output of books is. And they will also feel how enriching all books are: wonderful and colourful and worlds in themselves and an experience to be fully enjoyed.
Dr Mallia is chairman of the National Book Council.