There was a 35% rise in the publication of books in Israel compared to 2008, according to the National Library of Israel's Annual Book Report. The report was published for the upcoming National Book Week.
8,571 books were published in 2018, about 2,000 more than were published in 2008 (when 6,326 books were published) and 879 more books than in 2017. 1,045 of the published books were children's books, 11 less than in 2017.
The report also showed that double the number of books relating to children with disabilities and special needs were published compared to the last decade.
Since 2010, 52 children's books relating to children with disabilities were published. In the last decade, only 26 books addressing the topic were published and in the 1950's only two books on the topic were published.
Albeit the fact that most questions can be easily and quickly answered on the internet, a steady rise was recorded in the number of reference books published in 2018, including cookbooks, hiking guides and fitness guides.430 new e-books and 550 audiobooks were received by the National Library in 2018 as well.80% of the non-religious books written for Haredi readers were written by women.
Over 400 biographies were published in 2018, of which 48 books were about Holocaust survivors and were written by second or third generation family members. This is about 20% more biographies than were published in 2017, when 320 biographies were published.
Biographies about influential leaders globally and in Israel written for young children also saw a substantial rise in publication.93% of children's books were published in Hebrew, while 4.2% were published in Arabic and the rest were written in English and Yiddish.At least 1,330 books on Judaism and Jewish thought were published in 2018.91% of the books cataloged by the National Library were published in Hebrew. 3.9% were in English, 2.9% were in Arabic and 1.1% were in Russian. 22 languages in total were present in Israeli publications in 2018.85.6% of all the publications were original works, which marks a slight increase compared to 2017. The majority of translated books published in Israel were originally published in English, followed by German (4.1%), French (4%), Arabic (1.1%) and Swedish (1%). The other 27.2% of translated publications represented 30 different languages, mostly European.1,280 of the publications in 2018 were prose and poetry. 840 of these books were Israeli originals.