“I MUST say that I find television very educational,” Groucho Marx once said. “The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.” Many people think that is especially true of Cyprus, where the phrase “Cypriots don’t read” often gets bandied about with resigned acceptance. No doubt with the advent of visual technologies, people are more and more turning form the written page to the flashing screen. But is it true that Cypriots ‘don’t read’ or even that they are reading less than they once did?
The owner of the Moufflon Bookshop, which sells mainly English titles, does not think so: “It’s wrong to say that Cypriots don’t read. Generally, the world has gone from verbal to visual, so there’s nothing peculiar about Cyprus. Of course you’re not going to find many who, like an English person, would feel uncomfortable if not reading a novel on the tube while going to work. They [Cypriots] would rather chat because the oral tradition is still strong here. But that doesn’t mean they don’t read. They spend £10 a week on daily newspapers, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
She added that many people believed reading meant working through a thick novel, when in fact many people in Cyprus read the press, periodicals, magazines, computer books, design books, etc. And, if anything, she said there had been an increased interest in reading in recent years.
“In my case I introduced out-of-print books. At first, people were reluctant to buy books with torn pages or stained, but then they realised the value of such books. And we’re talking about ordinary people, not rich people or collectors.
“I think that over the years there’s been an increase [in reading]. It’s because the Greek publishers have become more energetic. Since joining the EU they’ve been tapping into funds for translation. They’re on par now with Italy and Spain.”
An employee at the Greek bookseller Hellas also disagreed with the idea that Cypriots don’t read, even if readership might not be as high as in a place like England.
Hellas said that readership would expand if there were daily media programmes devoted to books. “In Greece every day there are programmes on TV and radio about books. In Cyprus, except for rare occasions, there are no programmes on books. This makes things difficult for us.
“But, generally, I would say that Cypriots do read,” he said, adding that that Greek literature was their biggest seller, although Cypriot writers were also popular.
The Statistics Office said that they do not have any such information on writing or reading habits, and they do not have any plans to conduct such studies.
Although there are only a handful of regular publishers on the island, there are a plethora of ‘vanity presses’ – publishers that publish the book at the expense of the author.
Moufflon bookstore noted that most self-published works in Cyprus were collections of poetry. “So there’s a lot of writing in Cyprus. The majority is poetry and to a lesser degree, short stories. But when you write novels, you tend to hunt for publishers in Greece, who are keeping an eye out for good writers here in Cyprus.”
But despite the large number of writers in Cyprus, there is a scarcity of creative writing programmes or workshops on the island.
Rhay Christou, who holds a Masters of Fine Arts graduate in creative writing from Vermont College, said that she ended up studying in the US at a low-residency writing programme because there were no creative programmes in English in Cyprus.
“It took me two years to decide to apply to the programme because it was so expensive,” Christou said. “I checked in Cyprus, but there was nothing offered in English. I could have taken literature courses or technical writing courses, but nothing in creative writing. As far as I know, only one creative writing course was offered in Cyprus five or six years ago, but I don’t think it was offered ever again.”
As a result Christou decided to start offering ten-week creative writing workshops in English.
“When I was doing my Masters, a lot of people told me that they wished they too could do something like that. But to make a commitment to go to a low-residency writing course off-island is difficult and expensive. It cost me $30,000 to do this course. So people asked me if I could teach some workshops here in Cyprus once I got my Masters.”
The 10-week two-hour workshops that Christou is offering will take place throughout Cyprus and run from early October into December. Christou said that in the first hour they will study published works and in the second hour they will critique each other’s writing.
The workshop will focus on short stories. “Short stories have the same structure as a novel, except that a novel is more complicated and more is brought into it. Short stories are something that you can tackle in a ten-week period, and through them you can understand structure, plot, and characterisation.”
“People in Cyprus are creative,” Christou said. “There are classes on the island in dance, music, art, even puppet-making. They explore the arts but they don’t explore the art of writing. And you can’t just sit down and say ‘I’m going to write a book’. There are rules and techniques and craft involved.
“And like with any art, you have to learn the rules of the craft to bring your talent to the forefront.”
n To contact Rhay Christou about participating in the writing workshops, call: 99-522333 or 22-344744; Email: [email protected]
