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Eastern Europe
Sheila Ray
From 1945 until the end of the 1980s, most publishing for children in the countries
within the Russian sphere of influence in Eastern Europe followed a common pattern.
Publishing houses were state owned, first editions of new books were very large, sold
well and went out of print very quickly. There was a sameness of appearance and writing
style. Most countries established centres for children’s books where publishers, authors,
illustrators and editors could meet with librarians, teachers and children, and books
were produced to meet perceived needs and requirements. Children’s library services
were generally well developed and generously staffed so that there was a clearly defined
market for books. Publishers made good use of traditional material and editions with
new and attractive illustrations were frequently published. Paperback books and
magazines and comics were widely available through schools and youth organisations
and in shops and markets. It is interesting to note, however, that even before the break
up of the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, the constituent nations had their own
traditions and pre-1940 literatures for children on which to draw, and this led to
national differences even in the fifty years of communist domination.
With the arrival of the free market, however, came the problem of publishing books at
a price which children and those who buy books for children can afford. In the days of
state publishing, the production costs of many books were subsidised. Publishers in a
monopoly situation could afford to publish good books; everything that was printed was
readily bought.
There are now fears that in a free market, with commercial interests involved, more
trivial literature will appear and flood the market. Comics of the kind previously only
available in Western Europe are now produced in the East and, in addition, books have
to compete with more attractive and entertaining television programmes. While
production costs rise steadily, publishers who used to be subsidised by central
government now have to compete on the open market.
The Czech and Slovak RepublicsEven before the establishment of two separate republics after 1989, there were separate
children’s literatures for the two parts of Czechoslovakia, each of which had its own
state publishing house.
Created in 1920 in the wake of the First World War, Czechoslovakia inherited a
tradition of picture books which had manifested itself in what is generally accepted as