Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – January 18, 2021 – Culture
Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said that positive changes in the book industry, where circulation and the number of book titles have fallen several times recently, can be stimulated by the promotion of reading.
“In recent years, Ukraine has seen a gradual decline in the volume of copies – from 5,000-6,000 in 2015 to 700-800 copies in 2020. The circulation in 2019 was 29.9 million, and in 2020 – only 8 million. The number of items also decreased significantly – from 13,651 in 2019 to 8,000 in 2020, “said Tkachenko.
According to him, one of the reasons for the decrease in circulation and the closure of bookstores is that there are more Ukrainians who do not read.
“According to statistics, only 8% of those who read every day. 38% – read once a month, 19% – irregular readers and 35% – do not read at all. At the same time, 53% of those who have read at least one book in the last year have not bought a single book. That is, more than half of irregular readers do not actually support the sphere, “the minister said.
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So, first of all, Tkachenko believes, we need to work on the root cause of the problem – the lack of desire to read, and for this we need to promote reading in Ukraine.
“First of all, the promotion of reading affects the literacy of the population, self-development and career growth… Second, the reading population – competitive publishers. The habit of reading among Ukrainians will form a demand for books, publishing houses in turn will become competitive and will offer only quality literature. Obviously, the issue of helping bookstores and those who sell Ukrainian books should be raised seriously, “he said.
At the same time, the Minister added that in order to stimulate the demand for reading, the Ukrainian Book Institute last year launched about 20 initiatives for the development and promotion of reading. And for the popularization of Ukrainian books abroad, the Translate Ukraine translation program has been implemented.
“ICIP is also aimed at rethinking and modernizing libraries and in some cases – their transformation into modern cultural attractions for residents of the region, replenishment of funds with the best novelties of the book market,” – said Tkachenko.
