Yerevan, which was named the 12th World Book Capital 2012 , will host a number of events, related to its honorary title in two months, however, booksellers warn that the “situation is critical”: bookshops disappear in Yerevan year by year, which means that the demand in books also decreases.

(This year the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation (IBF) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) granted the title of UNESCO World Book Capital to Yerevan.)

According to the data provided by Vahan Khachatryan, head of the National Association of Publishers of Armenia, there were about 60 bookshops in Yerevan in Soviet Union years, whereas now only 15 are left. As for publishing houses, their number has grown several times.

“We used to have only eight major publishing houses, now their number is almost 250, and even though in those years 1,100 books were published annually (with about 2,500-3,000 print run each), and now this index is twice higher, the print run is twice reduced (about 500-1,000), which means that the demand [in books] has decreased,” Khachatryan says.

The attitude towards book was changed in Armenia after the Soviet Union collapse: if having books and a rich personal library in soviet years was respectable, then after the Soviet Union collapse the economic crisis in Armenia and hard social conditions made many people burn the books from their personal libraries in order to warm their houses, others sold their books at low prices.

And eventually the number of bookstores was also reduced in Yerevan a few years ago.

Most of Yerevan residents even now remember the big bookshops on Abovyan and Moskovyan streets left after the Soviet Union collapse; meanwhile since a few years ago a brand shop and a bank have been located in their places; and now the books of Armenian classics can be bought either in Vernissage (a popular outdoor flea market in downtown Yerevan) or in subway bookstalls in Yerevan.

The subway bookstall located under Yerevan’s central Abovyan and Moskovyan streets has become an area which during the past ten years resembles a book depository, where thousands of books are sold in the aromatic smell of kebab stands, humidity, and the stench of urine.

“We agree that we work in non-hygienic conditions, however, this is a natural state for a sphere which undergoes a crisis; and even though the demand in books is not very high, people have very few alternatives, and they come here if necessary,” says Harutyun Petrosyan, who has been selling books in the subway bookstall for almost seven years. He says that books related to professional and children’s literature are consumed most of all.

Books sold in Vernissage and subway bookstalls are burnt under the sun and fade under rain, yet they attract customers by their low prices.

One of the oldest bookstores in Yerevan – The World of Books, on Mashtots Avenue, which belongs to Bookinist Company since 1997, and has run since 1937, according to its director, undergoes a deep crisis now.

“The business of books is going through hard times today. Parallel to development in information technologies (IT), people prefer electronic devices more, and unfortunately the book business is not profitable in Armenia,” says director of Bookinist Company Khachik Vardanyan, adding that the situation is worsened because the value-added tax (VAT) for all products, including books makes 20 percent in Armenia, meanwhile VAT is only five percent for books in other countries of the world.

Minister of Culture of Armenia Hasmik Poghosyan a few months ago, speaking about the issue of libraries which are closed ahead of the Book Day, stated that “It is planned to open bookselling points in 50 areas of Yerevan which are most populated, and those areas will not be designed for selling books only, but a number of book-related events will take place there.”

Even though the World Book Capital City Yerevan has many problems in the sphere, on April 23 – World Book and Copyright Day – a number of events dedicated to the book capital will be held in Yerevan: exhibitions, forums, mobile bookstores, book printing, and discussions over bookselling and book reading, which aim to increase the interest towards books and reading.