Meetings, workshops & book fairs

The Alliance of Independent Publishers was invited to the Salon du livre et de la presse jeunesse de Seine-Saint-Denis(Children’s Book Fair of Seine-Saint-Denis), between the 30th of november and the 5th of december, on the stand of Afrilivres. Béatrice Lalinon-Gbado were glad to meet you there. Béatrice Lalinon-Gbado is the president of the pan-African association « Afrilivres » and also publisher for children in Benin and author of “Maman“, selected for the Baobab Prize. LIBRE, Brazilian network of Publishers, partner of the Alliance of Independent Publishers, were also attend the Book Fair through the MACO publishing house.

Official website of the Book Fair

The meeting of the Arabic-language network was held in Beirut, December the 11, and 12, 2005, and brought together the editors of Lebanon (Dar Al Farabi and Intishar), of Morocco (Toubkal), of Algeria (Thala), of Tunisia (Med Ali), Libya (Tala) and Jordan (Dar Al Shoruk).

On October 10th, 2005, at 19pm, the Alliance will be present at the Georges Pompidou Center (Paris,), to participate in a debate on bibliodiversity. This event, organized by Littératures Pirates Korporation (LPK, see www.litteraturespirates.org), is included in the Lire en Fête agenda.

Hélène Clémente from Inextenso (www.inextensodiffusion.com), Claire Mathon (LPK), Philippe Magnani (Paris Musées Diffusion), Jérôme Saliou (Alphagraph bookshop, Rennes) and Étienne Galliand (Alliance of Independent Publishers) will debate on concrete practices aimed at empowering the diversity of independent publishers.

The meeting of the Portuguese-language network of the Alliance of independent publishers was held in Rio de Janeiro, September 14th and 15th 2005, and brought together the publishers of Angola (Cha de Caxinde), of Guinea Bissao (Ku Si Mon), of Portugal (Campo das Letras), of Mozambique (Moçambique editora) and Brazil (Vozes and Pallas). These publishers of Brazil, Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa also took part in the « Primavera dos Livros » of Rio de Janeiro, a book fair organized by the Brazilian publishers of the LIBRE network.

The following documents are available, do not hesitate to contact us :

1) The report from the meeting of the portuguese-language network of the Alliance of independent publishers (Rio de Janeiro, September 14th and 15th) ;

2) The participation in « Primavera dos Livros » (Rio de Janeiro, September 16-19) ;

3) Projects 2004-2005 (Year of Brazil in France, « Biennial » of Rio, French National Library) ;

4) List of participants and other contacts.

At the Geneva Book Fair (from April 27 to May 1, 2005), the Alliance of Independent Publishers presented and diffused for the first time the French-speaking publishers’ 2005 Catalogue. (Check it out online).

Included in this catalogue are the following :

• a presentation of each of the 28 publishing houses, from all over the French-speaking world (from Mali to Quebec while passing by France) ;

• a selection of representative titles from each publisher, more than one hundred titles ;

• an access by kind, title, author, publisher ;

• information and contacts regarding the purchase of books, no matter who you are and where you come from !

In order to facilitate the exchange of information between book professionals (rights transfers, translations), this new tool is available in two languages : French and English.

Launching of the catalogue of Afrilivres

With more than 1 300 titles published by 54 African editors, an essential tool for professionals.

Order the Afrilivres catalogue.

The English-speaking network of the Alliance the Alliance of Independent Publishers is meeting in London prior to the Book Fair (http://www.lbf-virtual.com), March 10-13. Participants will come from Australia, Canada, England, India, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, the United States, and Zimbabwe to discuss co-publishing projects and develop strategies for future development of this network.

This meeting has been organised in collaboration with African Books Collective, INASP, and SABDET.

A joint cocktail reception will be held at the Fair on Sunday, March 13, 2005, at British Council’s International Centre, 5 p.m. We hope to see you there.

The Alliance of Independent Publishers invite you in its stand at the Paris Book Fair, number L 180, March 18 to 23, 2005.

Cérès Publishing House (Tunisia) and the Alliance of Independent Publishers are very sad to inform you that Nourredine Ben Khader has passed away.

A great influence in the African and Tunisian book industry, « NBK » managed Cérès Publishing House for 20 years. His remarquable enthusiasm as well as his strong involvement in publishing and books made him a reference for all his friends, both in Africa and throughout the world.

We will not forget him.

The Alliance of Independent Publishers, in partnership with the Ford Foundation (USA - www.fordfound.org) and the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation (Swizerland - www.fph.ch), set up a copublishing project to gather the proposals that will come out of the World Social Forum context, in Porto Alegre (Brazil). To achieve this goal, the Alliance sent 11 writers to Porto Alegre, to cover the 11 themes of the 2005 WSF (see the 11 themes of the WSF on the website www.forumsocialmundial.org.br). Each writer will contribute a chapter to a book that will be copublished by the Alliance members first in French, English, and Portuguese - followed by versions in other languages.