To be an independent publisher is to question the world, to help make sense of it, today and tomorrow
At a time when every country in the world is affected by the pandemic, we, as independent publishers around the world, are experiencing diverse health, social and economic situations. We are facing different realities, in different timeframes: immediate risks for some sections of the population (India, Madagascar, Indonesia...); a pandemic that strikes in contexts of already established political crisis (Haiti, Egypt, Syria...); the near absence or delayed implementation of public book policies (Cameroon, Gabon...); the resilience of independent publishing houses in the face of big corporations (Australia...).... While our contexts are diverse, our concerns remain collective: fragility of independent structures, uncertainty about the future, concern about possible abuses (surveillance society, pressure on employees, online teaching and learning, etc.).
We are in perpetual questioning, trying to understand our world: what to do, how, with whom, at what pace?
We need time to understand, to comprehend – which we had planned to do by 2021, as well as our “Rethink and Celebrate” Conference. REthink: to remain a conscious and creative actor, to act, in terms of ecology, social and solidarity economy, new approaches to readers, cooperative practices between professionals, freedom of publishing, fair speech...
Read more below...
See also:
Public book policies website
Read the text in Arabic:
The International Alliance of Independent Publishers and publishers from the Spanish-language network pay tribute to the memory of the Chilean writer Luis Sepúlveda, who died on 16 April 2020 in Oviedo (Spain) as a result of the Coronavirus, after several weeks in hospital.
The Ibero-American Book Fair in Gijón, organised and directed by Luis Sepúlveda for more than a decade, was the setting for the creation of the first network of Spanish-language independent publishers, and the first meeting of Latin American independent publishers was held in 2000.
As a result, the International Alliance of Independent Publishers and the Association of Independent Publishers of Chile, now Editores de Chile, were formed.
Today we pay tribute to a man of generosity, solidarity and commitment to building a more just and humane world.
Author(s) : Djaïli Amadou AMAL
Publishing countries : Republic of Guinea, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Togo
Price : 3 000 FCFA ; 40 000 francs guinéens
This co-publishing bears the label “Fair Trade Book”.
Created in 2007, the “Terres solidaires” collection is a collective experience. It proposes literary texts from African authors, published by a collective of publishers in Francophone Africa, Through the principle of solidarity co-publishing, texts circulate, are available and accessible for African readers: the local book ecosystem is protected and strengthened.
The “Terres solidaires” collection is supported by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).
The first videos of the Conference here: Abidjan (May 2019); Santiago de Chile (October 2019)
The Conference is a process carried out over 3 years. It has commenced in 2019, with several workshops and meetings: Madrid (April 2019), Geneva (May 2019), Abidjan (May 2019), Santiago de Chile (October 2019).
The Conference will continue well into 2020… to end in 2021 in Pamplona, Basque Country.
In 2021, the Alliance will celebrate its 20 years of existence!
Follow the Conference on the Alliance website and social networks!
Convened in Santiago de Chile on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of October 2019, during the Spring of the Book (Primavera del Libro) and the International Conference of Independent Publishers (2019-2021), the Spanish-language network of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers (IAIP) declares:
And commits towards:
The aim is to strengthen book ecosystems locally by involving all relevant actors, and to promote a book culture in our societies, a necessary condition to escape manipulation and to build democratic societies for critical and committed citizens.
We call on all independent publishers who share these statements to sign this declaration:
To sign the “Declaration of Santiago de Chile on independent publishing serving communities and diversity”, please contact the Alliance’ team.
Through a partnership with the Editores de Chile collective and publishers member of the Alliance in Latin America and Spain, more than 15 publishers from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Equator, Spain, Mexico and Peru met in Chile, for a 2-day meeting, in the margins of the 8th Primavera del Libro.
These workshops and meetings are part of the activities of the International Conference of Independent Publishers 2019-2021: “Rethinking independent publishing, celebrating bibliodiversity!”
On this occasion, the Alliance launched, in Chile, the results of the previously unpublished analysis carried out on public book policies in Latin America.
The cross-cutting analysis of public book policies in Latin America is available in Spanish on the Alliance website, and in French in the special issue of Bibliodiversity Journal focusing on public book policies.
The activities carried out in Santiago de Chile were supported by the collective Editores de Chili, the 8th Primavera del Libro, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage of Chile, the Providencia municipality and the Providencia Cultural Funds.
The ICIP will meet to discuss a major event in the life of the Alliance: the International Conference of Independent Publishers 2019-2021!
This meeting will focus on developing the content, subjects and objectives of the Conference: several actors, structures and partners are therefore invited to the ICIP meeting, to listen to a diversity of voices, to share concerns, learn from what is done elsewhere, be challenged, discover… to broaden our horizons and build this Conference together, pushing us to rethink!
Topics under discussion include: ecology and publishing, agriculture and publishing, (ongoing) unbalanced relationships between the South and the North…
Read the programme and the list of participants here!
The Alliance thanks the Centre national du livre, la Maison des Métallos and the Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer for providing venues for our meetings.
Discover here the HotList 2019!
Thanks to a partnership with Kurt Wolff Stiftung (the German collective of independent publishers, member of the Alliance) and the Frankfurt Book Fair, independent Latin American publishers in Frankfurt will be exhibiting at the “Reading Island for Independent Publishers” stand (Hall 4.1), twenty books of various genres: novels, short stories, art books, essays, children’s literature... from Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Mexico!
Context:
- 2009: The members of EDINAR (a group of Argentinian independent publishers) present a selection of the best books from their list at the Buenos Aires Book Fair. This selection is then promoted in independent bookstores across Buenos Aires.
- 2010: Argentina is the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. To make sure Argentinian independent publishing is well represented, the Argentinian independent publishers, in partnership with the Frankfurt Book Fair, present a HotList at the stand of independent German publishers, showcasing the diversity and quality of their books.
- 2017: The HotList 2017 opens to independent publishers from Latin America! Thanks to the collaboration with the collective Kurt Wolff Stiftung, a selection of about 40 titles from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay is exhibited in Frankfurt on the “Reading Island” (Hall 4.1 / D36).
- 2018: Following the success of the 2017 edition, the HotList 2018 is back and opens to Brazilian publishers. In addition, a thematic and international selection is launched: this year, the theme of “women’s struggle” is selected in the “WomenList”, showcasing more than 30 titles edited by independent publishing houses from all continents.
- 2019: The International Alliance of independent publishers and the Kurt Wolff Stiftung collective offer a new edition of the HotList. Some twenty books (novels, essays, children’s books, comics, art books) will be exposed at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019. A colourful and powerful HotList this year!
Here is the 9th edition of the B Day, let yourself be hooked by the books!
Share the video of the B Day 2019!
The ecology of the book is concerned with ideas and professional practices towards a sustainable, decolonial and geopolitical ecology of the book, involving all the actors of the world of books and taking into account their interdependence.
These ideas and practices seek to articulate several dimensions and include all the actors involved in the production of books, from creation, layout and publication to reading, including printing, distribution and sale in bookshops.
In addition to these material dimensions linked to the production of books (inputs, choice of paper, transport from the printing press), there are symbolic dimensions, which reflect on the use of books and bibliodiversity. Finally, book ecology also takes into consideration the external factors impacting on the book industry and the book market, in particular the social and environmental dynamics informing a sustainable ecological perspective.
Book ecology is therefore a concept that refers to a complex, collective and interprofessional understanding of all the practices linked to the production of books. It seeks to foster dialogue between professionals to bring about structural and thoughtful changes for greater eco-responsibility and bibliodiversity.
About the project:
‘Publishing & Book Culture in Africa’ is a new project headed by Caroline Davis, Associate Professor in Publishing, Department of Information Studies, Centre for Publishing, at University College London. With the support of a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship – and in association with Beth le Roux, Associate Professor of Publishing Studies at the University of Pretoria in South Africa – the intention is to set up a virtual network bringing together publishing researchers/educators across Africa. The network will serve as a platform of linking researchers, as well as a way of accessing databases of information about publishing in Africa; and to provide information about ongoing and past projects and open-access publications and research resources, including those generated by current research projects. A responsive and mobile-friendly project website ’Publishing & Book Culture in Africa’ is shortly to be launched.
As part of a wide range of resources to be made available, Hans Zell was commissioned to create the Repository, and which is now freely accessible in a Pilot edition on the Hans Zell web pages for a limited period of time. The final version will be hosted on the Network’s website later in the year.
Read the content here:
Available in a pre-print version at: https://www.academia.edu/76616001/Women_in_African_Publishing_and_the_Book_Trade_A_Series_of_Profiles_Series_II
Pre-print version uploaded on Academia.edu April 2022
Final print/online version to appear in The African Book Publishing Record,
Volume 48, Issue 2, (June 2022) https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/abpr
Copyright © Hans Zell Publishing Consultants 2022
Read here the Serie I: Women in African Publishing and the Book Trade: A Series of Profiles, by Hans M. Zell, October 2020
The Independent Publishing Glossary is a collective project led by publishers from the Spanish-language network of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.
It shows the meanings and definitions of words commonly used in publishing. It is an evolving project, which will be enriched over time in order to include new concepts and to take into account other proposal for definitions. The idea is not to freeze or petrify the concepts, but to open them up to enhance their multiple meanings.
Each term is signed by the person who worked on the definition. The glossary was edited by Germán Gacio Baquiola (Corredor Sur Editorial, Ecuador / Colectivo Editores independientes de Ecuador), Teresa Gottlieb, (Editorial Maitri, Chile), Paulo Slachevsky (Lom Ediciones, Chile) and Miguel Villafuerte, (Editorial Blanca, Ecuador).
To order this title digitally (in French), it’s here!
Sales price (digital copy – PDF version): 5 Euros
ISBN: 978-2-490855-27-8
Publication: February 2022
Presentation
The world of books and writing is not necessarily diverse. Like all places of power, whether real or symbolic, it does not escape the forms of exclusion and predation that can be observed elsewhere in society.
By deliberately favouring a plurality of approaches to the question of inclusion, this issue of the journal attempts to explore a multidimensional phenomenon. Thus, whether through feminism, indigenousness, the LGBTQ+ movement or by considering those excluded from the written word, the authors question the inclusive capacity of this sector.
Beyond the observations, they propose practical examples (collected in France, Quebec, Belgium, Spain, India...) to promote inclusion: the establishment of a gender editor within an editorial office, the creation of a native publishing house, the management of bookshops, publishing houses or feminist or gay journals, the reflection of librarians on the conditions of reception of minorities, etc.
Little by little, thanks to these many initiatives, often without wanting to polemicise or to whitewash issues, professionals are fighting discrimination daily and promoting the expression of real diversity.
“Bibliodiversité” is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.
See all the other issues of the journal here (“The alternatives. Ecology, social economy : the future of the book ?”, “Minority languages”, "Public book policies”, “Self-publishing”, “Publishing and commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...)
Discover publishers’ backgrounds, get to know their work and their publications, and listen to the voice of independent publishers… by reading the exclusive publishers portraits in this section!
In partnership with the online magazine ActuaLitté, interviews with publishers member of the Alliance are regularly added here. Explore the interviews:
* Élodie Comtois (Écosociété publishers in Québec),
* Samar Haddad (Atlas Publishing in Syria),
* Marie Michèle Razafintsalama (Jeunes malgaches in Madagascar),
* Constanza Brunet (Marea Editorial in Argentina),
* Antoinette Koleva (KX Critique & Humanism in Bulgaria),
* Karine Joseph (Sirocco in Morocco),
* Colleen Higgs (Modjaji Books in South Africa),
* François Nkémé (Proximité in Cameroon),
* Aliou Sow (Ganndal, Guinea Conakry),
* Ritu Menon (Women Unlimited in India).
* Ivana Jinkings (Boitempo in Brazil),
* Sophie Bazin and Johary Ravaloson (Dodo vole in Madagascar),
* Dorota Hartwich (Format in Poland),
* Amanda Crocker (Between the Lines, Canada),
* Dieulermesson Petit Frère (LEGS Édition, Haiti),
* Corinne Fleury (Atelier des nomades, Mauritius),
* Abdulai Sila (Ku Si Mon, Guinea Bissau),
* Susan Hawthorne (Spinifex Press, Australia),
* Dan Bomboko (Elondja, Democratic Republic of Congo).
To order this title digitally, it’s here!
Sales price (digital copy – PDF version): 5 Euros
ISBN: 978-2-490855-11-7
Sales price (hardcopy): 15 Euros
Format: 14,5 X 21 cm; 236 pages
ISBN: 978-2-490855-10-0
Publication: February 2021
Bibliodiversité is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.
See all the other issues of the journal here (“Minority languages”, "Public book policies”, “Self-publishing”, “Publishing and commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...)
Presentation
At a time when environmental concerns are becoming more and more important and when traditional production patterns are increasingly being questioned, is there such a thing as an ecological, responsible and solidarity book?
At a time when a significant proportion of printed books end up unread and when the physical flow of books generates significant greenhouse gas emissions, printers, publishers, booksellers and distributors are questioning their practices and the impact they have.
They are proposing alternatives to the dominant system to respond to these challenges – and thus define the future of the book?
In just this past month, three prominent Iranian writers, translators, and members of the Association of Iranian Writers, Bektash Abtin, Kayvan Bazhan, and Reza Khandan Mahabadi, and journalist and sociology researcher, Khosrow Sadeghi Boroujeni, have been sentenced to prison on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and gathering and collusion with the intent of acting against national security.”
These accusations, which have led to long prison sentences and the charges levied are false. Their objectives are to further oppress writers and the people of Iran.
At a time when the world is under crisis by the pandemic, Iran, and especially within its prisons has a very unstable environment, with the increasing spread of Coronavirus among inmates.
We as authors and scholars would like to ask you to let the voices of our fellow authors in prison be heard by the people of the world and to demand their immediate release.
Women in African Publishing and the Book Trade: A Series of Profiles, by Hans M. Zell, October 2020
Read here the content:
This pre-print version uploaded on Academia.edu on 12 October 2020
Final print/online version to appear in The African Book Publishing Record,Volume 47, Issue 1, (March 2021) - https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/abpr
Copyright © Hans Zell Publishing Consultants 2020
Read here the IPA (International Publishers Association) support, and here the manifesto published by the Brazilian actors, to defend the book in Brazil.
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