Interview: "The digital book is not threatening the printed book yet"

What are you here for?

Albalach: We are here to find books to bring back to the Israeli readers. We are looking for Classical fine literature that has not been translated to Hebrew yet, or that has been translated a long time ago and has to be retranslated.

Kantor: This is a point which is not always clear outside of Israel- our language changes all the time in a very quick paste. The younger generation doesn't read books that were translated 20 years ago.

As Israelis, do you get to meet people you wouldn't meet otherwise, for example from the Arab world?

Kantor: Unfortunately, we only establish personal connections and not professional ones. The public that reads Hebrew isn't interested in Arabic literature. Once people see an Arabic name on the cover- they don't buy the book.

Albalach: There was an Israeli publishing house which sold books that were translated from Arabic called "Andelusia". It closed down.

Do you think that people in Israel read more or less than in other countries?

Kantor: I think that people in Israel read just as much as in any other place. but we have a problem because the market that reads literature in Hebrew is very small. There are only seven million people in Israel, many of them read Arabic, others are new comers who still read in their mother tongues, ultra orthodox only read their own religious books. The maximum number of adult readers is 100.000.

Do you feel like the printed book is losing relevancy?

Albalach: We are looking for literary content just like in previous years, nothing has changed.

Kantor: The digital book is not threatening the printed book yet. Maybe a little in the USA but not outside of it. However, dictionaries and encyclopaedias are fading away. You can find what they offer online.

Do you feel like the book industry is strictly about business in this fair?

Albalach: On the contrary. I feel that this is an important mission- to find good literature and to bring it to the readers. Sometimes we find things we like and we don't know how will the public react to them. But on the bottom line we are part of a community and if I like something someone else is bound to like it too.