Prague - In the times of advanced technologies, such as ipods, large-screen TVs and youtube with growing numbers of people spending more time reading on the internet it becomes harder to get people read classical books.
A little bit of marketing and good promotion may help, though. At least organizers of the Magnesia Litera book award are convinced of that.
The Czech best book award ceremony is traditionally broadcast live with traveler, poet and song writer Jan Burian presenting the event. But this year there are two innovations.
Burian will be accompanied by a popular Czech actress Aňa Geislerová who has promised to read her own poems at the presentation.
Then, the award ceremony will take place in the Estates Theatre (Stavovské divadlo). The Municipal Library's capacity ceased to be big enough to fit all those engaged in the award giving ceremony.
Any kind of book
Magnesia Litera has only been going on since 2002 and is named after the major sponsor - mineral water producer Karlovarské minerální vody.
It takes place under the auspices of Václav Havel and unlike most of foreign awards, the Magnesia Litera association, headed by Pavel Mandys, awards the best books in nine categories, starting from fiction, poetry, non-fiction, children´s books, publisher´s choice, etc.
But the book of the year, which is granted CZK 200,000, can be any kind of book, be it a translation or book of photographs.
"Some people keep telling us that the book of the year should be a fiction book written by a Czech author but we do not follow that," Pavel Mandys told Aktuálně.cz. "Last year it was, for example, a children's book by Petr Nikl that won the prize."
Increased sales and recognition
The winners can expect increased sales and better recognition among critics.
The main purpose is to promote book reading and Magnesia Litera has done a good job so far. According to Pavel Mandys sales jump as soon as the prize is announced.
Last year's win - Nikl's children's book Záhádky - had to be reprinted and the sales grew up to 6,000 copies. In 2007, the winning book by an unknown contemporary Romanian author Petru Cimpoesu sold 11 times more.
Brimming with humor, the novel Simion Liftnicul is set in 1997 and deals with Romania's period of transition that creates a number of grotesque situations.
"The 1,100 sold copies of Petru Cimpoesu's Simion Liftnicul may not seem to be much but considering the 96 copies that had been sold before the prize announcement, it is an 11-fold increase," Pavel Mandys told Aktuálně.cz.
The bestseller status in the Czech Republic is 10,000 copies.
The 2008 nomination list will be announced at the beginning of March and the winners will be announced in April.
You can see the winning books here.
