English

Year of publication: 2004,
140 pages,
12,5 X 19 cm

When is Africa’s turn? Here is a question that we would prefer to avoid, given Africa’s apparent hopelessness. But Joseph Ki-Zerbo, historian and man of action from Burkina Faso, cannot and will not gloss over this question. For him, Africa must conquer its identity, proud of its contribution to the human adventure, in order to regain its role in the world.
A fascinating book, nourished by an Africa lived and studied for decades, rich in the profound reflections of a historian on the role of his profession for concrete action by people. This political book was published simultaneously in Europe and Africa.

Year of publication: 2004, 202 pages

This deliberately provocative book refrains from idealising a mythical Africa or denying the black continent’s oft-dramatic situation, yet it claims that the so-called “backwardness” of Africa is actually the expression of a tremendous cultural resistance to a devastating economic model. By delocalising our viewpoint to Africa, the author urges us to examine our lifestyles and the values of liberal globalisation with a radically critical eye.

Year of publication: 2004, 160 pages, 15 x 21 cm

This book, designed by Indian, Brazilian and European authors and editors, presents diversified views of communication and democracy. Based upon many examples from these three continents, it proposes a reflexion on the logics of popular and citizen communication as well as on the social relevance of the communication revolution.

Year of publication: 2004

Globalization is accelerating, and we can observe today that the economic and financial mechanisms have left entire populations behind. Government development assistance does not appear to have fulfilled its missions and has not reduced North / South imbalances.
Based on an in-depth analysis of numbers and of existing government development assistance efforts, Guillaume Olivier presents a sometimes worrisome – but never pessimistic – assessment of the situation.

Year of publication: 2004, 178 pages

What image does Europe project to the outside world, this Europe who is used to gazing at herself, preoccupied with her minor or major internal quarrels? We asked this question to ten African writers. Coming from the Maghreb or sub-Saharan Africa, each of them chose one particular aspect of European culture: the question of time, femininity, technology, hospitality, the cult of the dead... From Carnac, Geneva, Germany and Senegal, Africa looks at Europe.

Year of publication: 2004

The advent of women in the public sphere, their federation across family and community borders, their challenge to perspectives and social practices, and their solidarity despite their differences surely represent one of the most irreversible phenomena of the 20^th century.
Yet the place of women remains a major international issue.
In this work, Édith Sizoo endeavors to understand the concepts that have been challenged by women and the alternatives that developed as a result. From her immense task of reading texts on the place and role of women written by feminists and non-feminists alike from all continents, one main feature emerges: the culture of relationships.

Year of publication: 2004

From January 5, 2009 on, you are invited to discover Books About Books, a resource center specialized in “Books & Publishing” in the middle of Paris.

Books About Books is open from Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 6 pm. For any additional information, don’t hesitate to call us at +33(0)1 43 14 73 66.

In makeshift “peace correspondent” garb – flowery shirt, wide pants and scarf – Marlène Tuininga has visited around twenty countries that until now were mainly known from accounts by her male colleagues clad in the bullet-proof vests and canvas of war correspondents. For several days, she shared the lives of women who, rising up from their suffering and that of their children, patiently reweave the fabric of survival and peace. Almost totally outside the glare of the spotlight, this modest action, with surprising convergence, focuses attention on the causes of violence – hatred and fear – through new or forgotten strategies and means.

Year of publication: 2003

Africa.
A continent of vast riches buried under countless ills...
Words, deaths and blood...
Africa is doing badly. But who says so?
Its children. Its artists. And its writers.
Thanks to Raharimanana and Soeuf Elbadawi, African voices are unmasking the truth about French Africa through short stories. Chicanery, espionage, torture and other manipulations... Anything goes.
Thirteen writers remind us that Africa is neither deaf nor dumb. They give us the latest short stories from French Africa to show again and again the reality of what is at stake in the old French colonies, which are now considered independent.

Year of publication: 2003

Part 2: Raphaël Thierry: “Book donations, but at what price, and in exchange for what? An overview on book donation practice in francophone Africa (in French)”

Pre-print version to appear in African Research & Documentation. Journal of SCOLMA (the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa), no.127 (2015) [Release 2017]

Read the article on EditAfrica website!

Part 1: Hans M. Zell: “Book Donation Programmes in English-speaking Africa”

Pre-print version to appear in African Research & Documentation. Journal of SCOLMA (the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa), no.127 (2015) [Release 2017]

Extract from the editorial note of the print issue:
«Welcome to this bumper issue of ARD. Scolma is grateful to Hans Zell and Raphaël Thierry for choosing to publish their full length study of Book Donation Programmes in Africa in our pages.
It is as they say “time for a reappraisal” and it is our hope that the ensuing debate will take place in the pages of ARD as well as online. I would therefore invite responses and feedback to this important and provocative study. Feedback from receiving libraries in Africa is particularly welcome.»
Terry Barringer, Editor, African Research & Documentation

Read the article on EditAfrica website!

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 Tunisia and Lebanon, the Alliance organised a day focusing on public book policies in the Arab world on Thursday 30 March 2017.

Publishers from Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia presented a panorama of book public policies in their respective countries: Chilean and French publishers spoke 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 of public book policies in Latin America and the Arab world, on-going at the Observatory.

Call for proposal – looking for an author

The Alliance aims to produce an unprecedented study about freedom of publishing, listening to independent publishers about the following questions:
• What are the different infringements of freedom of publishing that independent publishers confront in their countries?
• How do they face these threats in their daily professional life?
• How do the publishers resist, preserve, and defend their freedom of publishing? How do they circumvent censorship?
• Are publishers more vulnerable today than they used to be? Have there been some significant changes in recent years?
• From the point of view of the publishers, is there a limit to freedom of publishing (and freedom of expression)?
The study will be written in French. If you are interested in conducting this study, please send your proposal to the Alliance team before 13 March 2017.}

The sixth ordinary session of the Conference of Parties->https://en.unesco.org/creativity/convention/governing-bodies/conferences/6th-ordinary-session] to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Paris, UNESCO 12 - 15 June 2017) has approved the Operational Guidelines on the Implementation of the Convention in the Digital Environment.

Read the operational guidelines in English here.

Read the text of the Convention.
Read the Operational Guidelines of the Convention here.

The International Alliance of independent publishers demands that Turkish authorities immediately release publishers, authors and journalists currently detained. It is necessary to guarantee freedom of speech and publishing in Turkey. The Alliance joins the Turkish Publishers Association’s condemnation of the summary closure of publishing houses and media as a clear human rights violation, and urges the Turkish authorities to rescind those summary closures.

Read issue 4 of the journal Bibliodiversity.

Organised by Afrilivres Association, through the support of its partners and the support of OMEL (Malian book publishers organisation), the first edition of the African Languages Book Fair will convene professionals, academics, institutions, NGOs, and the general public for 3 days of discussions, sharing, exhibition, and sale of books in African languages. An unprecedented and unique event, not to be missed!

Extract from the Communiqué by the Alliance for a call for freedom of speech and publishing in Bangladesh, 10 November 2015:

For several months, authors, bloggers, publishers and booksellers have been the victims of violent and deadly attacks in Bangladesh.

The International Alliance of independent publishers, representing 400 independent publishers from 45 countries in the world, condemns these murderous attacks and assault on freedom of speech and publishing. The Alliance also reaffirms the essential role needing to be played by public authorities, in Bangladesh and throughout the world to enable the emancipation of its citizens, and to guarantee a public space conducive to dialogue and peace. Plurality and diversity of ideas constitute the foundation of democracy. It is urgent that the Bangladeshi government protects and supports actors in the book industry, thus safeguarding the foundations necessary for their work and freedom of speech.