Hebrew Book Week

The roots of Hebrew Book Week are commonly traced to 1926, when publisher Bracha Peli, founder of Masada Press, organized a one-day street fair on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.[4][6] Discounted books were sold from outdoor stalls under the name "Hebrew Book Day."[3] A separate account places an earlier precursor in December 1925, when an event was held under the name "Hanukkah Days–Hebrew Book Week" and offered deep discounts on Hebrew-language titles.[1]

After 1926, related gatherings were held intermittently rather than as a fixed annual festival.[3] The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research states that through 1961 the event took place only once every several years.[6] The modern national format was initiated by poet and writer Shlomo Tanai in May 1959 as part of events marking the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel; later observances centered on large book fairs throughout the country.[6][3]

Hebrew Book Week takes the form of open-air markets in which publishers display and sell books at their own stands.[2] It is usually held in June and lasts approximately two weeks.[3] Its commercial reach can extend across the month because local bookstores participate and offer books at the same reduced prices available at publishers' stands.[2] Book fairs are held in cities and communities throughout the country, with the principal events in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and most Israeli publishing houses take part.[3]

The event is organized and administered by the Book Publishers' Association of Israel, an association founded in 1939 that represents approximately 90 publishers.[2] Beyond organizing Hebrew Book Week, the association lobbies for the promotion of Israeli books and operates a joint paper-purchasing company that negotiates reduced prices for its members.[2] More than 100 publishers, both large and small, participate in the fairs, enabling local authors to present their work to a broad public audience.[1]

In addition to book sales, the fairs feature new-book launches, author meetings and signings, workshops for children and teenagers, literary symposia, lectures, musical performances, and storytelling activities.[3][1] Hebrew Book Week also coincides with the awarding of the Bernstein Prize for novel writing, illustrated picture books, and poetry.[1]

In 2016, the 55th annual Hebrew Book Week was held as a ten-day national festival ending on June 25, with events in more than 40 cities.[7] Principal venues included Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem's First Station, and Beit Sapir in Kfar Saba. Programming encompassed children's shows, crafts, musical performances, a mobile library, storytelling, and comics activities, while publishers offered discounts and promotions.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person fairs were curtailed, and the 2020 report recorded 6,487 books deposited compared with 8,225 the previous year; however, readership itself did not decline—e-book use rose by 73%, and both the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv municipalities reported substantial increases in new library memberships.[8] In 2021, the National Library marked Hebrew Book Week with a full month of special events through an online Hebrew-language Month of Reading site, including live Zoom events with prominent Israeli authors, recorded author talks from the archives, manuscripts from the Library's collections, free online documentaries, and playlists of songs inspired by literature.[8]

In 2022, following two years in which the pandemic had sidelined the festival, Hebrew Book Week returned in full force from June 15 through June 25, with the main Jerusalem festivities held at Liberty Bell Park and related programming across the country.[1] The National Library's 2024 program ran for three days—June 24–26, from 16:00 to 23:00—and included musical performances, a library-treasures tour featuring draft manuscripts by major Hebrew writers and poets, literary conversations, and evenings commemorating Yehuda Amichai and Naomi Shemer. Ticket prices ranged from NIS 30 to NIS 160, with discounts for soldiers and evacuees.[9]

The 2026 centennial celebration—marking one hundred years since the 1926 Rothschild Boulevard fair—opened one day late after Iranian missile fire.[5] Events ran through June 18 at Sarona Park in Tel Aviv-Jaffa and through June 20 at Safra Square in Jerusalem, produced by the Publishers Association of Israel in cooperation with the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem municipalities.[5] The program included the Bernstein Prize ceremony and launched "Mikoreh," an initiative featuring reading clubs, author events for parents and children, and digital and influencer-led campaigns responding to declining reading rates.[5] A Publishers Association survey conducted ahead of the centennial found that 69.6% of Israelis wanted to read more books than they currently did, while 29.7% identified smartphones and television as the main distraction from reading.[5]

Over decades, Hebrew Book Week evolved well beyond a commercial street-sales event into a national cultural institution. The National Library of Israel characterizes it as a cultural-national phenomenon whose historical record—photographs, posters, street advertisements, invitations, and catalogs—documents events from the 1920s onward, including book fairs, literary readings, municipal programs, and appearances by public figures.[3]

The event is described as a popular occasion attended by hundreds of thousands of people, who take advantage of special offers and bargains while engaging with Israel's literary community.[2] The Publishers' Association has described the week as promoting reading in an "egalitarian and pluralistic way," with participation from publishers across the spectrum of Israeli literary culture.[1]

The National Library releases its annual Israeli publishing report each June in time for Hebrew Book Week, and the report regularly receives extensive media coverage.[10] For 2021, the Library reported approximately 7,350 books published in Israel, with 91% in Hebrew, nearly 5% in English, and slightly more than 2% in Arabic.[1] The 2022 report—based on books deposited under the Books Law 2000, which requires publishers producing editions of 50 or more copies to deposit two copies with the National Library—recorded 6,971 books published in Israel, including a record 2,004 prose and poetry books, 1,258 digital books, and 178 audiobooks; women constituted 60% of authors in that overview.[10]

The detailed 2022 publishing data showed that of the 2,004 prose and poetry books, 1,884 were published in Hebrew and 1,490 were original works written in Hebrew.[11] Among translated books, 83% came from English, with French, German, and Russian also represented.[11] The Association of Israeli Publishers has reported that approximately 4,000 new titles are published in Israel each year and that 34 million books are sold annually—17 million of them reading books, reference books, and encyclopedias, with the bulk of the remainder being textbooks.[6]

Published accounts do not use a single date for every stage of Hebrew Book Week's development. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research and a JNS history trace the Rothschild Boulevard street fair to 1926 and identify 1959 as the beginning of the event's larger or modern format.[6][4] A separate JNS account dates the event's establishment to December 1925 under the name "Hanukkah Days–Hebrew Book Week" and says it moved to June in the late 1950s.[1] Encyclopedia.com, meanwhile, states that the annual Hebrew Book Week was first held in 1952.[2] These dates may refer to different milestones, but the sources do not fully reconcile them; the 2026 centennial adopted the 1926 fair as its benchmark.[5]

Hebrew Book Week has periodically served as a flashpoint for disputes over the economics of Israeli publishing. In 2012, controversy centered on the deep discounts offered by the two dominant bookstore chains, Steimatzky and Tzomet Sfarim, which government data indicated accounted for 80% of Israeli book sales.[12] Ten leading Israeli authors—including Amos Oz and David Grossman—announced they would not permit their books to be sold at a discount during the week, declaring they could "no longer participate in the humiliation" of their works and Hebrew literature more broadly.[12] Proposed legislation at the time would have barred retailers from reducing the marked price of new books during their first 18 months after publication and would have required minimum royalties of 8% of the marked price for the first 6,000 copies sold and at least 10% thereafter.[12] The Prime Minister's Office stated that the bill was "designed to protect literature and authors in Israel," while the Israel Antitrust Authority director opposed government intervention, warning that prices could rise enough to reduce purchases.[12]

The dispute continued into the mid-2010s. The 2013 Law for the Protection of Literature and Authors introduced fixed prices for Israeli books during their first six months and established minimum royalties, but by the time of the 2016 Hebrew Book Week its cancellation was pending.[7] The Publishers' Association criticized Culture Minister Miri Regev for failing to coordinate with it, while the ministry stated that she had been willing to meet with the association.[7]