Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1508764
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 OCTOBER 2023 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications National Book Council reacts to resignations REFERENCE is made to the article ti- tled National Book Council Deserted As Resignations Stultify Body, published on Sunday 24 September. While the National Book Council acknowledges the resignations of several Board members in recent months, it is essential to clarify that the majority of these resignations were not related to the motivations listed in the article. Four of the five individuals mentioned cited per- sonal or medical reasons for their resig- nations. Only one Board member explic- itly stated in his official resignation that "the sector and the local book industry are not being given the due attention". Additionally, it should be noted that Council Secretary Mr Joseph Debattista resigned in November 2021 for personal reasons and was promptly replaced by Mr Matthew Borg. Replacements of the Board members who resigned are cur- rently in the last stages of approval. The National Book Council is actively addressing the issue of rising paper costs and has publicly raised this matter on multiple occasions, most recently on September 12 during the press confer- ence where the Council launched the official programme of the Malta Book Festival. The entire Board Council has been deeply involved in all relevant activ- ities, including the creation of an amend- ed comprehensive survey of the current publishing industry launched since 2019 with the NSO. Every year, the National Book Council invites all publishers to participate in this vital survey, although it is unfortunate that some major pub- lishers consistently fail to do so. Our ultimate goal is to present a factual and concrete study report to the authorities, which will result in subsidies for the book industry to offset the rising costs. On August 23, the National Book Council contacted MaltaPost and sub- sequently offered the Council's Board to arrange a meeting with MaltaPost's lead- ership to discuss what you referred to as "a recent introduction of new costs for the distribution of printed material by Maltapost". Regrettably, this effort was deemed futile by one of the publishers. Moreover, the National Book Council's activities extend beyond organising the Malta Book Festival, aimed at showcas- ing the local publishing scene, attracting more visitors each year, and consequent- ly generating more revenue for local publishers. The Malta Book Fund awards €120,000 annually to different publishers and authors to support the publishing of new books, as of last year also funding reprints of books no longer available in the market and the translation of books from Maltese into other languages, and into Maltese. This year, we introduced the London Book Fair initiative for Publishers, Authors and Illustrators, through which, following a public call and an application process, the National Book Council funds several publishers to attend the London Book Fair in person, and engage with foreign publishers to secure translation rights for their books into foreign languages. The Council organises the National Book Prize, the Novels for Youth Literary Contest, the Doreen Micallef Poetry Contest, the Campus Book Festival, and manages the Public Lending Rights and ISBN agency for Malta, among other specific marketing campaigns and audio-visual productions aimed at promoting Maltese literature. The National Book Council is a public entity, and as such, we are committed to upholding all applicable public procure- ment regulations. We take great pride in executing all projects entrusted to the National Book Council with the highest level of diligence and unwavering seri- ousness. The Council is still committed to sup- port all its stakeholders in negotiations with the authorities and relevant agen- cies for the betterment of the Maltese publishing industry. National Book Council Pembroke