Meetings, workshops & book fairs

Readings, book releases and piñatas in the public space, meetings, picnic, posters, and postcards : all ideas are welcome to participate to this day.
In Perou ; en Colombia ; en Argentina...

* 36 stories unveiling the names of independent publishing houses from all around the world
* 36 catchphrases by publishers on bibliodiversity
* Because behind the books… there are (also) publishing houses, publishers…
* Because on 21 September, they celebrate the International Day of Bibliodiversity !

See the activities of the B Day on the blog el dia B, on Facebook and Twitter.

Here the video of the B Day, made by the Latin American publishers !

Workshops on solidary publishings partnerships and on freedom of publishing (an initiative of the Alliance), “HotList” (space dedicated to independent publishing in Latin America, an initiative of the Spanish-language network of the Alliance), meetings on publishing in the Francophone space (organised by BIEF), Party Time for Indies (an initiative of ODEI and IPG, in collaboration with the Fair)… Bibliodiversity will be there, with independent publishers from all over the world !

See below the publishers in Frankfurt and the activities of the Alliance... as well 3 focus proposed at this occasion !

Workshops, exchanges and knowledge sharing

• In situ training on e-publishing of illustrated and interactive books, in Lomé (Togo), 10-14 July 2017 : two Togolese publishing houses member of the Alliance benefited from personalised support in the context of a training facilitated by Gilles Colleu (Vents d’ailleurs publishing house, France). A programme of the Alliance’s Digital Lab, supported by the International Organisation of the Francophonie.
• Meetings of the European collectives in Paris (France), 19 and 20 July 2017 : 4 European collectives (Kurt Wolff Stiftung in Germany, Contrabandos in Spain, ODEI in Italy, IPG in the United Kingdom) and the Alliance met to strengthen their relationships, and find ways of collaborating, exchange tools and experiences…
• Conakry, UNESCO’s world book capital (Guinea Conakry), 23-29 November 2017 : Ganndal publishing facilitate, during Conakry’s Children’s Book Fair, a colloquium on African children’s books, and a focus on African languages publishing… The Alliance will participate to this event by organising a workshop on digital publishing in African languages.

Book Fairs

• Frankfurt Book Fair (Germany), 11-15 October 2017 : workshop on fair publishing partnerships and workshop on freedom of publishing (an initiative of the Alliance), “hot list” (space dedicated to independent publishing, an initiative of the Spanish-language network of the Alliance), meetings on publishing in the Francophone space in the context of the invitation to “Frankfurt in French”, Party Time for Indies (an initiative of ODEI and IPG, in collaboration with the Fair)… Bibliodiversity will be there, with independent publishers from all over the world !
• Salon de L’Autre Livre in Paris (France), 17-19 November 2017 : several publishers member of the Alliance will participate to this edition, an opportunity to share and have a roundtable on independent publishing on the international level (Tunisia, Iran…).

Celebrations

• International Bibliodiversity Day, 21 September 2017, throughout the world ! Readings, book crossing and piñatas in the public space, meetings, picnic, posters, and postcards : all ideas are welcome to participate to this day. Of course, do not forget to support independent bookshops and other relevant networks to reach as many readers as possible ! See activities of the previous year here : blog el dia B and the Alliance’s website.

Bibliodiversity Observatory

• Resource centre : data collection and analysis on public book policies in Latin America and Spain, in the Arab world and in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar ; Bibliodiversity’ Journal, Digital Lab, study on the creation of a digital printing press in Francophone Africa…
• Advocacy : awareness activities on book donation, African languages publishing, study on freedom of publishing

Governance

• Meeting of the International Committee of independent publisher (ICIP) in Paris (France), from 7 to 9 October : the agenda is being drafted by ICIP… more information soon.

16 Iranian publishers from the diaspora organize from May 2^nd to May 14th, in the same time than the Teheran Book Fair (May 3rd-13th) the “Uncensored Teheran Book Fair”.
This Book Fair will occur successively in 9 European and North American cities :

• 2-3 May : London
• 5-6 May : Stockholm
• 9-10 May : Paris
• 11-12 May : Cologne
• 12-14 May : Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam
• then in Toronto and Los Angeles

This event represents a way for the Iranian publishers to have “their” book fair, to show and sell some books that are forbidden in Iran.

Find all details (in Farsi) on the website www.uncensoredBook.com and on the social networks through the hashtag #UncensoredBook. And for any other details, do not hesitate to contact the publishing house Naakojaa, who has initiated the Book Fair.

The International Alliance of independent publishers supports this touring book fair, as part of the activities in favour of freedom of publishing. If you are interested by publishing in Farsi, we also recommend you to have a look on Publishing in Persian language, study realised by the Alliance in 2015.

For the 3rd year in a row, the Assembly of Swiss and Francophone publishers will be held during the Geneva Book Fair. Taking the opportunity of having several Swiss and francophone publishers’ representatives, these meetings will be held over two days : the first day will examine the issues of book exportation and circulation in the Francophone space, while the second will focus on the issue of who will take over the publishing profession in Switzerland. New in 2017, practical workshops in small groups will be offered to participants. These three workshops are organised through the support of the Alliance :

• Editorial partnerships : an alternative to exportation
• Communication strategies : how to sell and promote Francophone literature ?
• Exportation of books : what are the challenges ? Pricing, regulations, tariff barriers and censorship.

Information and accreditation here.

In partnership with the Tunis Book Fair and the Union of Tunisian Publishers, and thanks to the support of the Fondation de France and the French Institutes of Tunis and Beirut, the Alliance will organise a day focusing on public book policies in the Arab world, on Thursday 30 March. Publishers from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia will present a panorama of public book policies in their respective countries : Chilean and French publishers will speak on what is being implemented in their countries – a dialogue and exchange between professionals and public authorities, between continents, between cultures.

This day was initiated in the context of the Bibliodiversity Observatory and the mapping work of public book policies in Latin America and in the Arab world, on-going at the Observatory.

Meetings not to be missed, more than 15 publisher members of the Alliance in 9 countries ! More information to be coming here.

* Friday 24 March, 10.00 - 12.00 - BIEF stand (U18)
B2B : copyright transfers in the French-speaking countries / meetings between publishers from sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti, and French publishers – facilitated by the Alliance, in partnership with BIEF

* Monday 27 March, 9.00 - 16.00 - SNE Forum (U14)
« Creation, partnerships and promotion : developing opportunitides for French-speaking publishing » / 3 round tables (children books, literature and human and social sciences) in the presence of Francophone publishers – facilitated by BIEF, in collaboration with the Alliance

* Tuesday 28 March, 9.30 - 13.00 - Centre national du livre
Meeting of publishers from the French-language network of the Alliance / On the agenda : exchanges about the study of digital printing hub in West Africa done by Gilles Colleu (Vents d’ailleurs, France) : presentation of the study on French publishing industry and its social and environmental impacts, conducted by the Bureau for the Appraisal of Social Impacts for Citizen information (BASIC).

Next March 18th, it is the « Indie Book Day » !
You are invited to go in an independent bookshop, to buy a book published by an independent publisher, and to post a picture of the book, or you with the book, on the social networks, with the hashtag #indiebookday.

The Indie Book Day was created by German independent publishers ; today, independent collectives in Italy (ODEI), in UK (IPG) are organizing the Indie Book Day. Tomorrow, the Indie Book Day could exist in your country !

More information here.
Facebook.

A teasing for coming activities :

Bibliodiversity Observatory
*Online Resources : mapping on public Book policies in Latin America and in the Arab world…
* Research and innovations : a renovated Digital Lab ; study on digital print in French-speaking Africa ;
* Advocacy : study on freedom of publishing ; professional meeting on public Book policies in the Arab world and in Europe, in partnership with Tunis Book Fair.

Workshops and thematic meetings
* Know-how and experiences exchanges between peers about digital publishing, non-fiction publishing, economic models…
* Sharing information and collaborations between organisations from different sectors about independence, about governance, about social and solidarity economy…
* Spaces dedicated to rights transfer : sells, exchanges, even barter between independent actors
* Collective stands on international book fairs : Frankfurt, but also “alternative” book fairs…

Fair publishing partnerships
*Publication of two books in the collection “Terres solidaires” : Palestine, written by Hubert Haddad, and Ceux qui sortent dans la nuit, written by Mutt-Lon
*Translation into Spanish and German of Bibliodiversity, A Manifesto for Independent Publishing, written by Susan Hawthorne
* Being Feminist Today, collective book
* Co-publishing in Spanish of Manual de edición. Guía para tiempos revueltos, written by Manuel Gil and Martín Gómez, originally published by CERLALC

Few days before the Seine-Saint-Denis children’s Book Fair in Montreuil (30 November-5 December 2016), twelve children’s book publishers and graphic designers from Benin, Brazil, France, Madagascar, Morocco, Portugal, and Togo will gather for a workshop on creation and graphic design in children’s book publishing. Through knowledge sharing, the participants will work on their on-going projects, tackling issues like text/images layout, pictures processing, specificity of bilingual books, tones and colours tones on books cover...

The workshop aims at :

• opening new horizons, discovering new approaches, not being stuck with some frames and norms ;
• questioning knowledge and professional practices of the publishers and of the graphic designers ;
• collectively finding resources and solutions to solve some obstacles ;
• sharing some existing (or to-be-created) tools ;
• reinforcing professional partnerships between African, Brazilian and European publishers.

This workshop follows the workshop organized in November 2015 (Graphic design in children’s book publishing - Africa/Europe perspectives). It is supported by the Centre national du livre, the French Institute of Brazil, and the French Institute of Madagascar. All participants agreed to volunteer their services – we thank them once again.