English

The International Alliance of Independent Publishers organizes from 18 to 21 December 2010 a meeting on the digital publishing in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), in partnership with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

The English-language network next meeting will take place in Paris from 13^th to 15^th October 2010. Discussions about the network current and future projects (translation, co-publishing, book fairs, etc.) are planned.
Being in Paris will be an opportunity for the seven publishers (Spinifex in Australia, Jacana Media in South Africa, The New Press in the United States, Tulika and Women Unlimited in India and Zed Books in the United Kingdom) to meet French publishers (Actes Sud, La Fabrique...).

The Alliance language network coordinators will meet in Paris on Monday 11^th and Tuesday 12^th of October 2010. This meeting represents one of the annual appointment of the governance of the association.
Two days of exchanges and debates between the coordinators and the members of the Board of the Alliance... discover the attached programme.

Language network coordinators:

* Nouri Abid, Tunisia (Med Ali), coordinator of the Arabic-language network;

* Serge D. Kouam, Cameroon (Presses universitaires d’Afrique), coordinator of the French-language network;

* Marc Favreau, United States (The New Press), coordinator of the English-language network;

* Araken Gomes Ribeiro, Brazil (Contra Capa), coordinator of the Portuguese-language network;

* Guido Indij, Argentina (la marca editora), coordinator of the Spanish-language network.

To meet the independent publishers of the Alliance in Frankfurt, download the document below.

To contact these publishers, before or after the Fair, do not hesitate to address directly the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

In 2010, the Prince Claus Foundation awards a prize to a publisher member of the Alliance. Indeed, the prestigious Prince Claus Award will next December pay tribute to Algeria’s Barzakh Publishing “for the way it gives concrete expression to Algerian voices, for having opened up a very necessary space for critical debates on Algerian realities, for having built a bridge between the different languages and cultures, and for having creatively dispelled the threat of the country’s cultural isolation”.

The Alliance expresses its warmest and most sincere congratulations to Selma Hellal, Sofiane Hadjadj and the whole team at Barzakh Publishing.

From 2010 International Bibliodiversity Day will be celebrated in several Latin American countries on 21 September each year. This day is deeply symbolic, representing Spring Day in the Southern hemisphere, in particular; spring with its connotations of pleasant weather, diversity, contrasting colours, vigour, flowers in bloom, transitions, love, perfume, and new beginnings.

Even though this is an international day, it was important to note that this initiative originated in the South - in Latin America – and that it bears a concrete signicance. Indeed, in defending and promoting bibliodiversity, Latin American publishers reaffirm the necessity of rebalancing the direction in which books and ideas circulate and of achieving movement in other directions, from South to North, but also from South to South.

Watch the EldíaB 2010 videos!

More information on Bibliodiversity Day Blog: http://eldiab.org/

How can Africa emerge from the impasse? Surprisingly, the author shows that Africans themselves have the means of achieving their own development. Since independence the model of development imposed on Africa by the West has been a complete failure. The author analyses the structural causes of this failure which has dragged African populations down into a spiral of poverty and violence. He shows what the West has been responsible for, without shying away from the responsibilities of Africans themselves. His multi-dimensional analysis goes on to suggest a range of innovative solutions which will allow Africans to take in hand their own development. Very persuasively, Sanou Mbaye suggests political, economic and financial reforms, legal action and a resource mobilisation plan which could bring about the true renaissance the regional populations dream of. On its own Africa will deal with its own problems and the author inspires us with hope for the future of the continent. Profoundly Pan-Africanist, he is convinced that the solidarity of the African peoples would constitute fertile ground for this radical change, which would enable them to reappropriate their identity ruined by centuries of domination and to achieve fulfilment.

Sanou MBAYE, former senior official of the African Development Bank, is a political and economic commentator. His writings on the development of African countries put forward political alternatives to what has been established in Africa by the West and its instruments: the IMF and the World Bank.

Year of publication: 2010, 222 pages, 11 X 18 cm

First large print edition: l’Atelier Publishing, 2009

After the Africans’ first heated and indignant reactions to Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech in Dakar on July 26, 2007, his declarations on the African continent’s inaction or the absence of French responsibility in its current problems deserved a well-argued response, uncluttered with any emotional diversion. In the aim of enlightening President Sarkozy, yet also his entourage and, broadly speaking, the general public, about the reality of African history, Adame Ba Konaré launched in September 2007 a noticed call to the historians’ community. This book is the product of this mobilization: 25 contributions by world-famous experts or younger researchers, both African and European, who each tackle with rigor and precision one aspect of the continent’s rich, complex and little-known history.

Year of publication of the pan-African version: 2009, 350 pages, 15,5 X 24 cm

The 3^rd meeting of Latin-American independent publishers’ collectives of the Alliance will occur with the support of the Departmental Book Chamber of La Paz and the French cultural services for the Andean cooperation during the 15^th La Paz International Book Fair (Bolivia) – which will take place from August 18 to 29, 2010, under the slogan “Celebrate Bibliodiversity”.

Massively used by small publishing firms to distribute their products to bookstores, libraries, and readers, the postal service is the most popular means of circulating books throughout the world. However, the absence, suppression or questioning of special postage for books is an impediment to bibliodiversity in many countries.
In Latin America, with a huge territory to cover and limited circulation, a large share of publishers ensures the delivery of their products themselves. For these publishers, preferential postage rates for shipping books are all the more vital.

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

A thorough report by Luc Pinhas, in French

Why do books have such restricted circulation in the French-speaking world? Which way does the flow go and which are one-way streets? What current legislation encourages publishing and the marketing of works? Are public policies sufficient? What setbacks are encountered in the marketing of works? Luc Pinhas draws a comprehensive portrait of the state of publishing, including legislation, circulation, distribution and marketing of books in the French-speaking world. This dossier, featuring entries on many themes and geographic locations, provides a complete overview of local realities, illustrated with telling examples. After analysing measures that states, associations and syndicates of publishing and book-store professionals have implemented, the author puts forward some proposals to fuel a much-needed debate. To achieve this and to hear what the main players had to say, especially with regard to the South, a fruitful survey was conducted at the Ouagadougou book fair in November 2004, in partnership with the international Association of French-speaking Bookstore Managers (AILF) - [http://www.librairesfrancophones.org/]

Year of publication: 2005, 288 pages, 15 X 21 cm, ISBN: 978-2-9519747-1-X

African literature in French is today better represented and better known in Europe than in Africa, where its distribution remains hampered by many obstacles. However, there are solutions, which require the mobilisation of various stakeholders in the book industry. One solution is co-publishing, based on a joint trade agreement. The publication of “L’Ombre d’Imana” by Véronique TADJO, a groundbreaking example of pan-African co-publishing, proves that it is possible, through joint action, to create the conditions necessary for a (re)appropriation by Africa of its literature. To make this possible, the Alliance is appealing to everyone, authors, publishers and institutions alike, to join forces and promote the bibliodiversity at the heart of the francophone spirit. This appeal is endorsed by many authors and book industry professionals.