English

Bibliodiversity is cultural diversity applied to the world of books. Echoing biodiversity, it refers to the critical diversity of products (books, scripts, eBooks, apps, and oral literature) made available to readers. Bibliodiversity is a complex, self-sustaining system of storytelling, writing, publishing, and other kinds of production of oral and written literature. The writers and producers are comparable to the inhabitants of an ecosystem. Bibliodiversity contributes to a thriving life of culture and a healthy eco-social system. While large publishers do contribute to publishing diversity through the quantitative importance of their production, it is not enough to guarantee bibliodiversity, which is not only measured by the number of titles available.
Independent publishers, even if they consider their publishing houses’ economic balance, are above all concerned with the content of published products. Independent publishers’ books bring a different outlook and voice, as opposed to the more standardised publications offered by major groups. Independent publishers’ books and other products and their preferred diffusion channels (independent booksellers, among others) are therefore essential to preserve and strengthen plurality and the diffusion of ideas. The word bibliodiversity was invented by Chilean publishers, during the creation of the “Editores independientes de Chile” collective in the late 1990s. The International Alliance of independent publishers significantly contributed to the diffusion and promotion of this notion in several languages, including through the Dakar Declaration (2003), Guadalajara Declaration (2005), Paris Declaration (2007), Cape Town Declaration (2014) and the Pamplona-Iruñea Declaration (2021). Since 2010, International Bibliodiversity Day is celebrated on 21 September.

See the article “Bibliodiversity” on Wikipedia.
The article also exists in French, Spanish and Portuguese.

The bibliodiversity, in pictures!

This co-publication is supported by the Fondation Lilian Thuram - Éducation contre le racisme and its partners: CASDEN and MGEN; this co-publishing bears the label “Fair Trade Book”.

Publication: April 2014 - 404 pages - 14,5 X 22 cm - printed on recycled paper -
First publication: éditions Philippe Rey, Paris, 2010.
ISBN Algeria: 978-9931-325-67-3
ISBN Benin: 978-99919-1-707-8
ISBN Burkina Faso: 978-2-913991-65-1
ISBN Cameroon: 978-9956-444-77-4
ISBN Côte d’Ivoire: 978-2-8091-0062-4
ISBN Guinea Conakry: 978-2-35045-046-9
ISBN Haïti: 978-2-89712-232-4
ISBN Madagascar: 978-2-916362-39-7
ISBN Mali: 978-99952-1-063-2
ISBN Marocco: 978-9954-419-76-2
ISBN Senegal: 978-2-914135-20-7
ISBN Togo: 978-2-916101-58-3

In “The Early Islam, from Ugarit to Samarra”, the history of a religious movement later to be known as Islam will be retold –not as it can be found in all encyclopedias, history books and TV documentaries– but as it can be inferred from the material evidence if investigated in an unbiased fashion. “Unbiased” here means that all we know –or rather only seemingly know– from the Islamic historiographic literature (the “Traditional Account/ Report”) will be ignored: first as it stems from an era several centuries after the alleged events it describes; secondly as it is mostly legendary and follows a “theological program” and thirdly as in many cases it flatly contradicts the material evidence we have on coins, inscriptions etc. The re-interpreted history will be presented in the form of the account of a journey. In some cases, words everyone would expect in a history of “early Islam” will not appear and for good reason. The term “muslim”, for example, appears only very late on in non-Islamic sources, in fact only several generations after the alleged founding of the new religion. Other words appear with different meanings, e.g. “Islām” originally does not designate a new religion, “Arabī” does not designate an ethnic group and other examples.

Publication: 2014 - 304 pages - 22 x 15 cm - ISBN: 978-3-943147-99-5
First publication: Schiler Verlag (Germany), 2006
This translation has received the support of the Prince Claus Fund.

Publication: 2014, 496 pages, 15 X 22 cm
ISBN France: 978-2-3641-303-95
ISBN Switzerland: 978-2-8290-470-4

After the first six preparatory and thematic workshops that were held from November 2012 to December 2013, the seventh and last workshop of the Assembly will take place from 30^th April to 2^nd May in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. This workshop will gather 15 publishers and digital experts around the topic: “Digital publishing: What issues for bibliodiversity in the Arab-speaking world?”. More information to come soon!

From 17^th to 22^nd September, the Cape Town meeting (South Africa) will conclude the International Assembly of independent publishers. More than 50 independent publishers from 40 countries will meet in Cape Town for an intercultural and interlinguistic event in favor of bibliodiversity.
The Assembly is organized in partnership with the Open Book festival.

For more information, get in touch with the Alliance team and download the document below.

André Schiffrin, great independent publishing figure, passed away on this Sunday 1^st December 2013 in Paris. His work and his analysis (“L’édition sans éditeurs”, “Le contrôle de la parole”…) took an essential part in the creation of the Alliance, back in the 2000s.
After running Pantheon Books (United States) during a long time, André Schiffrin left the Random House group to create in the early 90s the not-for-profit publishing house The New Press, member of the Alliance.
André Schiffrin wrote several fundamental books on independent publishing stakes, translated into many languages –as “Words and money”, the last one, copublished in the Alliance Arabic-language network by Al Intishar (Lebanon), Med Ali (Tunisia) and Atlas Publishing (Syria).

In the current context of the International Assembly of independent publishers, and remembering André Schiffrin had taken part in the Paris Assembly in 2007, the Alliance has lost a fellow traveller –his memory and his reflections will keep on being with us. Independent publishers from all over the world are paying him a tribute here.

“Walaandé, the art of sharing husband”, is a novel about the hardships women from polygamous marriages face every day. The themes discussed in the book include polygamy, woman education, discrimination and violence against women, early marriage, and repudiation.

This novel is a sound testimony of women’s lives that are deeply affected by years of emotional muzzling. A novel that completely sweeps all hopes of happy tomorrows and sinks them into a day-to-day life with its constraints, its conflicts, its pressures as well as its drama, whereby the wealthy polygamous family with its variety of female characters, exhibits external signs of wealth, but in fact faces a lot of problems.

The setting is in one of the richest muslim households in Maroua. The head of the family, a wealthy businessman, is the father of many children, has a number of domestic servants and renews his harem at will and according to his adventures.

Four wives, a dozen of children and a myriad of servants are the daily actors in a household that has the necessary comfort for a luxurious life. Alas! Walaandé is instead a portrayal of their boring existence.

Behind the golden walls and beautiful fences of this luxurious palace where perfumes, colours and flowers forecast a taste of the well-being of rich people, there is finally nothing but boredom, loneliness, despair, conspiracies and jealousy. But also, this male dictatorship, this pride of the “supreme repudiator”, this husband, once very gentle when he needed to conquer his target’s heart, had described to her a beautiful life in which he instead chained her. The same love lines to Aissatou, Djaili, Nafissa, Sakina, the same become a set of disappointments for all of them.

This novel, like any other work of art, is inspired from real life whereby lives and delights, charms and tears, worries and frustrations paralyse women energies and distort their beauties, once very irresistible. The reverse of polygamy as described in this realistic novel echoes the long muzzled sigh of many females who dreamt in their early ages of a wealthy lover with perfumed and luxurious cars, but finally find themselves trapped in the external appearance of this comfort.

Djaïli Amadou AMAL is North Cameroon’s first female author. She is a young Peulhe woman, with an Egyptian mother. These mixed origins have probably enabled her to write more freely, just to write, and, what is more, on a subject up to now taboo in her society, polygamous marriage, which is known to be closely related to the premature marriage of young girls.
Djaïli Amadou AMAL undoubtedly forms part of the elite of the new movement of regional Cameroonian authors. Her novel has already been reprinted in less than six months. She attracted great attention on a tour of Cameroon and Chad visiting the Alliance Française network to discuss the theme of polygamy.

Year of publication: 2013, 144 pages, 16,5 X 21,5 cm, ISBN: 978-614-404-419-3
First publication: 2010, éditions Ifrikiya, Cameroon

The translation and co-publishing of “Walaandé, l’art de partager un mari” have been supported by the Prince Claus Fund.

The International Committee of independent publishers (ICIP) will gather in Paris from the 17^th to the 19^th October, at the BULAC (University Library of the languages and the civilizations), for its annual meeting. What’s on for these days: publishers presentations and analysis of the first conclusions (tools and recommendations) of the workshops of the International Assembly of the independent publishers; preparation of the general meeting which will close the Assembly in Cape Town in September 2014.

After Guadalajara in November 2012, Paris and Bologna in March 2013 and Ouagadougou in June 2013, the sixth workshop of the International Assembly of Independent Publishers will be held in Frankfurt, from 13 to 15 October 2013, on the issue of “Diffusion of human and social sciences books: what innovative strategies?”.

15 publishers from Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa will share experiences and knowledge in order to question the solutions offered by digital possibilities for the diffusion of their books, to share some tools, and to develop translation and co-publishing projects.

This workshop is organized in partnership with the Frankfurt Book Fair, and with the support of the Fondation de France, the Centre national du livre and the Goethe-Institut in South Africa.

You can follow the International Assembly of Independent Publishers here !

Publishers will also be present throughout the Frankfurt Book Fair (from 9 to 13 October) on their respective stand and / or the stand of the International Alliance of independent publishers (hall 5.0 D111)

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 more here.

Access the Pilot edition here

Read the content here:

• Introduction
• Kenya: Muthoni Garland; †Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye; Ruth Makotsi
• Liberia: Elma Shaw
• Mozambique: Sandra Tamele
• Nigeria: Enajite Efemuaye; †Irene Fatayi-Williams; Azafi Omolabi-Ogosi; Mabel Segun
• South Africa: Michele Betty; Henrietta Dax; Dorothy Dyer; Vangile Gantsho; Eve Gray; Veronica Klipp; Elizabeth le Roux; Alison Lowry; Gill Moodie; Alice Wairimū Nderitū; Lorato Trok; Elitha van der Sandt
• Uganda: Nyana Kakoma; Crystal Rutangye; Hilda Twongyeirwe
• Zambia: Fay Gadsden
• Zimbabwe: Kathy Bond-Stewart; Trish Mbanga; Emma O’Beirne

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.

• Daryoush Ashouri, Author, Translator and the Co-founder of the Association of Iranian Writers
• Ervand Abrahamian, Author and Professor Emeritus, City University of New York
• Azar Nafisi, Author
• Faraj Sarkohi, Writer, Journalist, Literature Critic; A Member of German Pen; The Recipient of Kurt-Tucholsky-prize; World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom Award and World Press Freedom
• Hero by International Press Institute
• Akram Pedramnia, Author, Translator; A Member of Pen Canada; the Recipient of James Joyce Foundation Scholar
• Moniro Ravanipour, Author
• Mohsen Yalfani, Author and Translator
• Nasim Khaksar, Author and Critic
• Reza Allamehzadeh, Moviemaker and Writer
• Morad Farhadpour, Author, Translator and Critical Theorist
• Akbar Masoumbaigi, Author, Translator and a Member of the Association of Iranian Writers
• Babak Ahmadi, Author, Translator and Philosophy Researcher
• Peyman Vahabzadeh, Author and Professor, University of Victoria
• Sohrab Behdad, Denison University, USA
• Farshin Kazeminia, Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris 6)
• Amir Kianpour, PhD Candidate, University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis
• Mehran Mostafavi, Sacly University (Paris), Professor
• Iman Ganji, PhD in Art Philosophy and Philosophy Researcher, Free University of Berlin
• Mehrdad Darvishpour, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor, Sociologist, Mälardalen University
• Farhad Nomani, Professor Emeritus of Economics, The American University of Paris
• Soheil Asefi, Journalist and PhD student in History, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York (CUNY)
• Saeed Hariri, Moderator, Toronto Book Club
• Azadeh Parsapour, Translator, Editor and Publisher
• Arash Kia, Faculty of Institute for Healthcare Delivery Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York

Women in African Publishing and the Book Trade: A Series of Profiles, by Hans M. Zell, October 2020

Read here the content:

• Ghana: Deborah Ahenkorah; Ama Dadson; Akoss Offori-Mensah
• Kenya: Serah Mwangi; Janet Njoroge; Lily Nyariki; †Asenath Bole Odaga
• Namibia: Jane Katjavivi
• Nigeria: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf; †Flora Nwapa; Anwuli Ojogwu; Oluronke Orimalade; Lola Shoneyin
• Rwanda: Louise Umutoni
• South Africa: Colleen Higgs; Bridget Impey; Thabiso Mahlape; Monica Seeber; Annari van der Merwe; Zukiswa Wanner
• Tanzania: Elieshi Lema
• Uganda: Goretti Kyomuhendo
• Zimbabwe: Jane Morris; Irene Staunton

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.

Analysis of data collected in 10 countries from independent publishers and public actors, by Andrés E. Fernández Vergara (University of Chile)

This article, written in Spanish, offers a regional analysis of public policies for the development of books and reading in Spanish-speaking Latin America, from the point of view of 53 actors in the book world from 10 different countries. It takes into account the similarities and differences that exist from one country to another in the region: on the one hand, there are complex networks of institutions and book promotion mechanisms; on the other hand, there is no national policy or strategic objective. The actors interviewed highlight the difficulties they encounter in their sector today: market concentration, piracy, lack of support for indigenous languages, etc. These are all dangers that threaten bibliodiversity in the region.

Contents:

• Methodology
• Censorship and content control
• Laws, public policies and regulatory mechanisms for books and reading
• Institutions and organisations working in the fields of books and reading
• Direct support and assistance for books and reading
• Copyright Legislation
• Organisation of the profession
• Conclusion

This analysis is to be found in a special issue of the Bibliodiversity Journal on “Public book policies” available in paper and digital versions (in French).

See also the analysis on “Public book policies in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar” by Luc Pinhas, published in September 2019.

To complement these analyses, see the mapping of public policies and in-country support mechanisms here: publicbookpolicies.alliance-editeurs.org

Data collection in the 11 countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar as well as in Latin America, cross-sectional data analyses and online mapping were supported by the Fondation de France and the SDC Switzerland.