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maltatoday SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2017 6 News MARIA PACE IT is not just children in Malta who seem to be making the most use of public library service. In fact, a new royalties scheme for Maltese authors whose books are loaned from libraries has opened up a vital revenue stream for writers, il- lustrators and storytellers. Children's books in 2017 were the most popular loaned books be- tween January and October, as data from the National Book Council shows top authors raking in over €20,000 in annual lending royalties. Maltese authors are now reim- bursed each time their books are loaned out from the 56 public librar- ies in Malta and Gozo. Children's literature, mainly translations to Maltese, are the most popular by a landslide. The National Book Council imple- mented the remuneration scheme to benefit authors whose books are available to borrow from Malta and Gozo's public libraries. The public lending rights schemes reimburses authors, co-authors, illustrators, photographers, and editors respon- sible for amassing works by several contributors. In cases where a book has two or more authors, includ- ing illustrators and photographers, payment would be equally divided between the parties. This year, the top ten grossing authors were mainly children's au- thors. The highest paid author, chil- dren's writer Natalie Portelli, accu- mulated a grand total of €20,685. Following her are authors Trevor Zahra, Clare Azzopardi, Charles Casha and Frans A. Attard, all chil- dren's writers. It is interesting that the authors' most loaned books were all trans- lated works, including Portelli's most popular work "It-Tabib tal- Gugarelli", Zahra's "Gigi Zaqqieq", and Azzopar- di's "Lup- pettin ihobb l-ghagin." Except for r e n e w a l s , Maltese books were loaned a total of 125,480 times up until October 2017. Trevor Zahra, who ranked sec- ond on the list in terms of lend- ing rights amassed, had the most books available at the library, with a total of 243 books spanning his 50-year career. The most popular books were two of Clare Azzopardi's children books, with "Luppettin ihobb biss l-ghagin" being loaned 429 times and "Hemm x ' h e m m f i l - g n i e n Lupettin?" l o a n e d 403 times. This re- v e a l s t h a t children are the ones making most use of Malta's public library services, with 36 out of the 50 loaned out books in 2017 being children's books. Apart from children's novels, Maltese romances seem to be on the rise, with Charles B. Spiteri's "Marta" being the third most loaned books, and Michael Cini's "Skjava... fil-ktajjen tal-imhabba" fourth. In fact, romance authors Spiteri, Carmel G. Gauci, and Rita Grech were amongst the top ten paid au- thors from the list. Other popular romance novels also included Lina Brockdorff's "Luciano", Charles Mi- callef St. John's "Lizbetta", and Sha- ron Calleja's "Friefet". Also revealing that the tenth most popular author, Mark Scicluna, a former MaltaToday cartoonist, is an illustrator whose work has featured in many books including Clare Azzopardi's, Maria Ferriggi's, and Sherise Zammit's. mpace@mediatoday.com.mt C M Y CM MY CY CMY K AVIS_VACANCY_COMBO_AD_FINAL.pdf 1 29/11/2017 10:42 MATTHEW AQUILINA On the 22nd anniversary of your tragic and mysterious disappearance together with the other passengers of the Piper Lance 9H-ABU We miss you so much dearest Matthew, love Mama, Papa, Daniel & Adrienne, Gillian & Alfio, Emma, Sophie, Luisa, Anna, Nino, Mattia, Luca, Nanna, family and friends. Please remember Matthew in your thoughts and prayers. Top Ten Authors Published works Total Most popular book loaned out Individual loan in libraries royalties of most popular book Portelli, Natalie 209 €20685 "It-tabib tal-gugarelli" 296 Zahra, Trevor 243 €16617 "Gigi Zaqqieq" 378 Azzopardi, Clare 121 €11304 "Luppettin ihobb biss l-ghagin" 429 Casha, Charles 97 €5070 "Minn fejn jigu l-frieh tal-annimali?" 279 Attard, Frans A. 32 €4239 "Milly u Molly jghinu l-annimali" 242 Spiteri, Charles B 26 €4178 "Marta : bint id-deffien tal-pesta" 384 Cauchi, Carmel G 87 €3455 "Wicc imb wicc mal-verità" 143 Schembri, Frank 65 €3163 "Kevin u qatraxita" 210 Grech, Rita 23 €2830 "Markuz: kompozitur u awtur misterjuz" 214 Scicluna, Mark (Illustrator) 21 €2813 "Jake Cassar isalva r-renju tar-Re Pankrazju IV" 225 Lending rights bring cash boon for Maltese children's favourite writers Booked profits: the public lending rights scheme has enabled prolific writers and popular authors like Trevor Zahra (top) and Clare Azzopardi to cash in on their works, among the most popular books for children Maltese books were loaned a total of 125,480 times up until October 2017, earning top draw writers like Nathalie Portelli, Trevor Zahra and Clare Azzopardi additional incomes of up to €20,000 Clare Azzopardi's 'Lupettin ihobb biss l-ghagin' was loaned out 429 times in just 10 months