new times dictate new rules
Litarea is the fruit of 20 years of research on the impact of digital technology on our civilization in general, and on the development of literature in particular. Openness, language differences and a lack of clear regulation regarding copyright in the digital space has had a dual effect on books. The number of barriers that stand between text author and reader has shrunk. Yet at the same time, the increased text volume that digitalization allows has depreciated, literally, the value of literary work.
Research shows, however, that books remain one of the engines for the development of human civilization. Therefore, we feel that it is key to create a new format for interaction between author and reader, based both on age-old tradition of book publishing and the opportunities that digital technologies provide.
The online world has already generously opened up works of world literature to the general perusal. This is an invaluable resource and it rightly belongs to the whole of mankind.
We at Litarea have no wish to earn from these classic works. We wish to create new classics for our future. We want to promote new literature that in time will become the work that defines our time. We wish to support the development of the literary canon by embracing the works of today. That is why we work only with living authors and aim to put their interests above our own.
We also believe that every book has its readers, and only those people have the right to decide whether the text lives on or not.
Today, most of us are accustomed to sharing opinions as much in the digital as the real world. In terms of literature, we believe it’s time to bring the debate further – to the margins pages of the books themselves. Litarea aims to give readers an opportunity not only to see reviews of a text by those that already experience it, but also to join in the conversation on the margins of the book itself. This way we hope to connect the views of the past with the future and make conversation about literature live on in time.