Tirana book fair to focus on copyright and informality
“Pirate publications account for 30 to 40 percent of the book market in Albania. This phenomenon is also widespread with university books,” says Petrit Ymeri, the head of the Albanian Association of Publishers
TIRANA, Nov. 4 – “Copyright and informality are killing Albanian books.” This will be the motto of this year’s 16th edition of the Tirana book fair, the largest book fair bringing together publishers from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and the Albanian Diaspora. The book fair, scheduled to be held from November 13 to 17, will focus on raising awareness on piracy and copyright protection in the Albanian reality.
Petrit Ymeri, the head of the Albanian Association of Publishers, says piracy and informality are a grim reality in Albania. “We have thought of raising awareness of the society, readers, Albanian and foreign institutions as well as businesses dealing with books. Pirate publications account for 30 to 40 percent of the book market in Albania. This phenomenon is also widespread with university books. There are dozens of plagiarisms, compilations of foreign authors which often have the name of the translator as the author,” says Ymeri.
Asked if the Association has undertaken a concrete initiative, Ymeri says they initially target coordinating all groups of interest to protect copyright and intellectual property.
“We are sure that we will also have the support of the Ministry of Culture in this road. This will require a new activation and point of view by the Albanian Copyright Office which we think has not been very professionally engaged in recent years. Our goal is that this does not remain only a concern for the Association of Publishers but for the whole society,” Ymeri adds.
The Association of Publishers says the current situation is worse even compared to a decade ago also because of the aggressiveness of publications on the market. “Unfortunately the number of pirate operators has sharply increased. We would like to first of all raise awareness on people dealing with culture and books. Even translators must become more aware and professional in their work relations, they shouldn’t translate books without a copyright. We should also raise awareness on the media not to support or advertise pirate publications,” says Ymeri.
The Association of Publishers says the number of new book titles in this year’s edition is 20 to 30 percent lower, which reflects the crisis at a time when the sale of books has been overshadowed by the internet era.
In its 2013, progress report on Albania, the European Commission says Albania still has a law on
Copyright to be adopted.” Efforts are needed to effectively enforce intellectual and industrial property rights and to set up the Market Surveillance Inspectorate. Serious shortcomings in the payment of royalties to right holders need to be overcome. Albania has not yet met its commitments under the SAA. Overall, preparations are not very advanced,” says the Commission.
Tirana book fair
Some 100 publishing houses will participate in the 16th edition of the Tirana book fair, the largest book event in the Albanian Diaspora. The book fair scheduled to be held from November 13 to 17at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana, will bring together publishing houses from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and the Diaspora. Embassies and foreign organizations operating in Albania will also participate in the book fair which will also host several events such as book promotions, discussions with writers.
The Tirana Times publishing house is also participating with its collection of publications.
The book fair will also commemorate Albert Camus in a special event with the French embassy in Tirana with the participation of Jean Yves Guerin.
Claudio Magris, a well-known Italian researcher and Italian TV host Brluno Vespa will be the special guests of this year’s edition.
In last year’s edition, four prizes for the best author, best translators were awarded in the 15th edition of the Tirana Book fair which brought together some 100 publishers from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. The biggest ‘Author of the Year’ Award went to Artan Fuga for his Renia e Qytetit (The Collapse of the City) book, a publication mixing the eye of an observer living in an Albanian town with analysis of facts by a social philosopher like Fuga, at the same time introducing contemporary ideas about life in a city. The best translator prize was awarded to Rudi Erebara for bringing into Albanian poems by Archibald Randolph Ammons. Organizers said some 100,000 people visited the Tirana book fair held from November 14 to 18 at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. Some 600,000 books were sold during the five-day event.
