English

In Latin America, Unidad versus el 1% is co-published simultaneously by Econautas Editorial (Argentina), LOM ediciones (Chile), Editorial Mate (Argentina), Plural Editores (Bolivia) and Taller de Edición Rocca (Colombia).
For translation © Editorial Popular, S. A., Madrid, 2019.

The original version of this book was published in 2018 as Oneness vs. the 1% by Women Unlimited in India (co-published with Spinifex in Australia and New Internationalist in the UK).

Find here the interview with Vandana Shiva on the occasion of the launch of the Latin American co-publishing on 19 June 2021.

ISBN Argentina (Econautas Editorial): 978-987-46301-9-3

ISBN Chile (LOM ediciones): 978-956-00-1379-8

ISBN Argentina (Editorial Mate): 978-987-9199-29-x

Babelica, the international online book fair of independent publishing, will take place from 20 to 22 September - 21 September is the Bibliodiversity Day!

Babelica is a unique and original project to promote bibliodiversity, conceived and hosted by the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

Discover the Babelica program here!

Babelica is a book fair dedicated to books published by independent publishing houses. It is designed to raise awareness of the variety of voices in international publishing and ensure they are heard, so as to promote diversity and creativity. At Babelica, a selection of titles from the many books published by independent publishers are being presented.
The Babelica book fair is available online throughout the year, from 20 September 2023 until the next edition in 2024.

Babelica is also a space for debate, exchange and discussion between book professionals, academics, readers, those who are simply curious, and more. The program of round tables, talks and readings offered in 2023 has been developed by publishers who are members and/or close of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers (see program).
To listen again to the round tables from Babelica in 2022, click here.

Babelica is an opportunity for exchanges of rights: join us on 21 September for the event dedicated to literature and human sciences, opportunities for publishers to present the titles from their catalogues to the book professionals present.
Away from this event, if you are interested in buying or selling rights, you can contact publishing houses directly via the Babelica platform.

Finally, Babelica is a place for exchanging know-how and practices, a place for experimentation: therefore, from October 2023 workshops will take place to complement Babelica’s talks and round tables, to delve deeper and develop themes such as digital, discoverability, artificial intelligence and book ecology in small working groups.

For this second edition, the Babelica platform, which will be revealed in September, has been entirely redesigned and updated to reduce its environmental footprint.

Babelica is supported by the Agence française de développement (AFD Campus) and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

The 7^th Tehran Book Fair, Uncensored, will be held from May 4 to June 6 in 17 European and American cities.

The aim of the exhibition is to provide an opportunity for authors and publishers who would be censored or banned in Iran to speak out freely and present their work.

All the information can be found here.

Several independent publishers from Latin America will attend the 47^th edition of the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, 27 April-15 May 2023, where the guest of honour city this year is Santiago de Chile.

The Editoriales de Chile collective and the Alliance are organising a round table event there on 27 April at midday (local time): “Independent publishing: meeting, showing solidarity and acting together in Latin America”, with the participation of Maria-Paz Morales (Dudo Ediciones/Editoriales de Chile) and Germán Gacio Baquiola (Corredor Sur Editores / Editores independientes de Ecuador) and Andrés Bracony (Tinta Limón, Argentina), moderated by Paulo Slachevsky (LOM Ediciones / coordinator of the Alliance’s Spanish-language network).

Find out more: The Buenos Aires International Book Fair

At the Salon International du Livre d’Abidjan/International Book Fair of Abidjan (SILA), the Alliance is organising a workshop targeted at book professionals from some fifteen publishing houses from francophone Africa. The workshop, led by Tchonté Silué, will cover the following themes: creating and managing a community of readers, using social networks, creating audio-visual content (videos, podcasts) and hosting book groups.
There will be a project fair where publishers will be able to present their catalogues with the intention of agreeing transfers of rights and establishing co-publishing projects. This project fair will be accompanied by an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience of solidarity co-publishing.

These events, organised thanks to the support of the Orange Foundation and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, will be attended by the finalists of the Orange Book Award in Africa as well as by some ten publishing houses from francophone Africa who are members of the Alliance. The winner of the Orange Book Award in Africa will be announced during the book fair.

See all the SILA’s activities here.

See the programme of events organised by the Alliance here:

In 2023, let’s continue building a world with more solidarity, sharing ideas and defending bibliodiversity!

Illustration by Mariette Robbes

As part of the Conakry International Children’s Book Fair (7-10 November 2022), initiated and coordinated by Ganndal in Guinea, some twenty publishing houses from French-speaking Africa are meeting in Conakry for a training programme tailored to the needs of the finalists of the Orange Book Prize in Africa and the members of the Alliance.

These meetings are designed through a partnership with the Orange Foundation and the support of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

The meetings in Conakry will be structured in several stages:

• a workshop on “Typography, composition, correction”
• a workshop on publishing partnerships in the French-speaking world followed by exchanges on publishers’ catalogues
• working sessions between the publishing houses involved in the “Terres solidaires” collection (deliberations of the Reading Committee and choice of the next titles in the collection in particular)

The participants will also take part in the inauguration of the Fair and will exhibit their country’s children’s books during the Fair.

Read the programme and see the list of participants here!

The International Committee of Independent Publishers (ICIP), composed of the coordinators of the language networks of the Alliance, will meet face-to-face in Paris from 25 to 27 October.

This meeting is essential in the life of the Alliance: it is an opportunity to define the activities of the Alliance for the period to come; to work on the governance of the association; to take decisions on strategic issues for the association.

The programme is available here!

Visual: Mariette Robbes

In this remarkable document, Marion Van Staeyen highlights the persistent imbalance in the book trade between France and francophone Africa, between North and South, specifically concerning children’s books. Some alternatives are appearing, however, to promote access to northern markets for African publishers. Many stakeholders in the sector – among them the International Alliance of independent publishers – are calling for an active and direct redress of the trade imbalance between North and South. A graduate in sociology and editing, Marion Van Staeyen is a second-year master’s student at University of Paris XIII, majoring in the book trade. She is currently attending classes at Sherbrooke University in Quebec, thanks to a partnership between the two universities.

Documents in French.

In view of the worrying situation in Iran and the attacks on freedom of expression, the publishers of the Alliance wish to express their solidarity with their Iranian colleagues. They demand the right to publish freely and call for increased cultural and editorial exchanges with Iran.

Throughout 46 well-documented pages and based on an extensive in-the-field investigation, Stéphane Marill has produced this remarkable analysis of “Publishing in Côte d’Ivoire: a study of the educational sector subjected to offers to tender”. This comprehensive overview comprises an all-new step-by-step guide for publishers wishing to apply for school publishing tenders (read also this article).

This study, available in Spanish, was carried out as an International Alliance of independent publishers exclusive by Elena Enríquez Fuentes (Mexico) in 2008.

Her work demonstrates that there is a considerable bias in the trading of books between Spain and Latin America. This assertion is based on the analysis of exports and imports between Spain and Latin America in 2006 and 2007.

As the official campaign for the next European elections is being launched, the Alliance has decided to get involved in a positive fashion by formulating three proposals that would be very simple to implement.

These proposals have furthermore been published on the website http://challengeforeurope.blogactiv.eu, with dozens of others, on the initiative of the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation in the framework of its “What kind of Europe do we want?” program. Let us hope this impressive corpus of proposals will be a profitable inspiration to the EU’s future elected representatives!

An incredible censorship attempt is endangering the very existence of the publisher Écosociété (Quebec – Canada); more than 60 publishers from 30 countries have declared their undivided support for the Quebec publisher and are calling on the pinstigators of the “Noir Canada” affair to respect the rights of freedom of expression and publication.

Through a step-by-step approach, with examples and a pedagogical method, Stéphane Marill gives a precious “vade mecum” for any publisher wishing to respond to a call for tenders in the school textbook industry.

Why did the large majority of European countries choose to protect the book, setting its price through trade agreements or legal measures? How were these protection mechanisms, which make the book into a cultural exception permitted by the European Commission, gradually implemented? Markus Gerlach offers a broad analysis the price-fixing of books in Europe: he begins by relating the background of this measure and then analyzes the economic effects. In the end he shows the extent to which the price-fixing of books, apart from its cultural and economic importance, also assumes an eminently political dimension.

“Protéger le livre” by Markus Gerlach (in French) - available in Spanish (“Cómo proteger el libro”), in Portuguese (“Proteger o livro”) and in Italian (“Proteggere il libro”).

Year of publication: 2006, 160 pages, 15 x 21 cm, ISBN 10: 2-9519747-2-8; ISBN 13: 978-2-9519747-2-2

Year of publication: 2006, 288 pages, 15 x 21 cm, ISBN 978-2-9519747-3-9

Far from being a caricature, developing a reasoning based on his personal conception of publishing, Gilles Colleu explores some of the characteristics of a typical independent publisher.
What do we mean by independent publisher? Are they necessarily small concerns? Can a major group be independent? In a context of concentration and increasing dominance of financial considerations, how can publishers remain independent while playing their crucial role of putting fresh ideas forward?

Gilles Colleu is a former student of Jean-Marie Bouvaist and has taught alongside him on the Master course at Villetaneuse University. He is now an associate professor in the publishing professions department of the IUT in Aix-en-Provence. He founded the Vents d’ailleurs publishing house and manages it with Jutta Hepke, and for the past 20 years has acted as a consultant to publishers.

In this work, he stresses his conviction that publishing needs to be rooted in a long cycle of cultivation, to build a coherent catalogue and long-lasting business.

NB: pages 94 to 97 of this work feature a full, fresh definition of independent publishing, suggested by the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

Year of publication: 2006, 160 pages, 15 x 21 cm, ISBN 10: 2-9519747-2-8; ISBN 13: 978-2-9519747-2-2