The Greek magazine “The Reader” organized a book conference on the profile of the Greek Reader. The conference was held in Thessaloniki during the 11th Thessaloniki International Book Fair.
According to data provided by public libraries, 75 percent of Greek readers are women who mostly read “pop culture” books. Among the most popular writers are Chrisiida Dimoulidou, Lena Manda and Kalie Karatza. It is also worth mentioning, that 31 percent of the books lent is contemporary foreign literature.
The financial crisis appears to affect readers as well, since borrowing books from public libraries has skyrocketed from 2009 to 2012 (when the crisis began).
As far as children’s literature is concerned, literary critic Mariza Decastro stated that children’s books seem to perpetuate social stereotypes (e.g “Dad reads the newspaper,” “Mam goes to the hairdresser’s”), they use a limited vocabulary, including various idioms and slang as well as trying to imitate famous children’s author, Eugene Trivizas.
Venetia Apostolidou, Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, underlined that reading books is not only a pleasure but “a nation’s cultural asset” as well.
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