Malta Book Fund to foster cultural growth in the local book market

Minister for Education Evarist Bartolo, Permanent Secretary Joseph Caruana and Executive Chairman of the National Book Council Mark Camilleri, today announced the launch of the Malta Book Fund during a press conference at the Ministry for Education, an initiative they described as aiming to “foster cultural growth in the local book market”.

Following a consultation process with authors and publishers, and after having studied the local book market in detail, the National Book Council noted a particular issue which they felt deserved attention.

“We have come to realise that there are many authors and publishers who have planned very interesting Melitensia publications of significant cultural, educational and intellectual value, however, said projects may not necessarily be easily profitable due to their very specialised nature, or are rather difficult to publish and distribute due to shortcomings within the infrastructure of the market itself,” the Council said.

Furthermore, the NBC, in its drive to contribute to the development of the Maltese book, would also like to support authors and publishers by financing projects to further enhance their skills and capabilities by providing them with grants to attend workshops, courses and cultural initiatives which might help further improve his or her skills and capabilities.

For these reasons, the National Book Council is issuing a minimum of eight grants totaling €40,000 – with €32,000 reserved for publication grants, and €8,000 to be distributed between education and foreign marketing funds. The grants are to be distributed following a rigorous application process vetted by an appointed adjudication board.

The NBC said that while small amounts of funding can make a great difference to publishing projects in our small yet thriving book market, especially to projects in Maltese and/or of local and cultural significance, the Council will strive to ensure that financial allocations are made to those applicants who would make the best use of their funds.

The application deadline for the 2015 edition of the Fund is June 30 at 12:00. Application Forms and Criteria may be downloaded from the NBC website: www.ktieb.org.mt