23 Feb, 2010 @ 12:46
1 min read

Bottom of the league

ANDALUCIA is bottom of the Spanish reading leagues. And the problem is getting worse.

The number of people who read regularly here has dropped from 55 to 50 per cent in just ten years.

It is now well below the national average of 55 per cent and comes despite three major initiatives to increase reading since 2000.

The nation’s top bookworms seem to dwell in Madrid where 64 per cent of people claim to be habitual readers. In Catalonia this figure falls to 55.6 per cent.

The most literate Spaniards are young, university-educated, woman, while the largest reader group are children between 10 and 13 of whom 91 per cent read regularly.

Spain’s most popular book last year was John Boyle’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, while Stieg Larsson is the most popular author.

Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

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