Nicosia Book Fest 7th Edition

The Nicosia Book Fest was realised for the first time in June 2016, by the Promitheas Research Institute of Cyprus and supported by the Press and Information Office, the Youth Board of Cyprus and the Municipality of Strovolos.

The idea for the festival emanated from the realisation that there is a huge gap of events that promote book reading in Cypriot society. This gap is identified on two levels. Firstly, little attention is given to authors and secondly, the new generation is not educated properly in loving reading and books.

The Nicosia Book Fest targets a combination of the two, as the authors, young and old, are given a space to present their work to the public and on the other hand, thousands of people have the opportunity to get in touch with books, not only through reading but also through other alternative activities.

The goal of the festival is to therefore contribute to the effort to cultivate a culture around the book but also more broadly to the development.

Year after year, the interest in participation increases from publishing houses in Cyprus and abroad and from new authors, rendering the festival a point of reference not only to the people involved in the creation of books (authors, publishers, bookstores) but also university institutions, literary associations and many other organizations that embrace the festival's goals.

Now more than 60 organisations (bookshops, publishers, organizations, associations, public and private universi­ties, foreign cultural institutes, etc.) take part in the NBF and more than 150 writers, artists and intellectuals participate in various presentations. Publishing houses and writers from Greece and other countries abroad are also hosted in book presentations and other events.

During the festival, more than 60 book presentations, interactive discussions, music and theatre perfor­mances, interactive games, creative writing workshops, book readers etc. are held in the Acropolis Park, while the public has the opportunity to get in touch and connect with the authors and buy books at special prices with a choice of over 80,000 different book titles. The work of talented writers from Cyprus and abroad is presented. The NBF places special emphasis on the presentation of children’s books, representations and narratives by actors, sports­men and other children’s activities, aiming at cultivating a love for the book, especially in the younger age. At the same time, we collaborate with schools and the Ministry of Education to organize prize-giving ceremo­nies related to the book.

The Nicosia Book Fest has been awarded the European EFFE Label. The EFFE Label is Europe’s quality stamp for remarkable arts festivals showing their engagement in the field of the arts, community involvement, and international openness. This is something that helps the integration of the NBF into an international network so that the festival and its aims are known in many countries of the European Union.