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De l’autre côté du regard (As Seen From the Other Side)

Author(s) : Ken BUGUL
Publishing countries : Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal
Language(s) : French
Price : 2 000 FCFA ; 350 DA

Ken Bugul’s novel is a dialogue between a daughter and her dead mother, whom she accuses of not having loved her and having preferred her sister ; it describes a relationship and a world from which love and truth seem absent. In a poetic fashion, alternating short sentences with poetry – as though pulsed by the murmur of despair – in a litany of remembrances, the author attempts to tell the ineffable pain of lost things.

Ken Bugul – whose name in Wolof means “one who is unwanted” – was born in Senegal in 1947, to a father who was a marabout (type of African shaman) and a mother who had to leave her when she was only 5 years old. She has worked as an international civil servant and now she lives in Benin. Her work, in which she combines her sense of humour with an innate talent for story-telling, is flooded with themes such as the status of women, Islam or North-South relationships. With her lucid, free and uncompromising look, she is one of the major voices in contemporary African literature.
Among her books are: La folie et la mort [Madness and Death], (Présence africaine, 2000), Rue Félix-Faure (Serpent à Plumes, 2004).

Year of publication of the pan-African version: 2008, 282 pages,
11,5 X 19 cm

Collection Terres solidaires

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).

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The Global Women’s Movement

Author(s) : Peggy Antrobus
Publishing countries : Belgium, Benin, Cameroon, Canada, Ivory Coast, France, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Switzerland
Language(s) : English , French
Price : 19 €

The spread and consolidation of the women‘s movement in North and South over the past 30 years looks set to shape the course of social progress over the next generation. Peggy Antrobus asks

  • Where are women now in the struggle against gender inequality ?
  • What are the common issues that they face around the world ?
  • What challenges confront the women‘s movements ?
  • And what strategies are needed to meet them ?

The author draws on her long experience of feminist activism to set women‘s movements in their changing national and global context. Her analysis will be an invaluable aid to reflection and action for the next generation of women as they carry through the unfinished business of women‘s emancipation.
"Today the global women’s movement stands at the crossroads
between protecting hard-won gains and being swept away by the
tidal wave of globalization. It is my belief that feminist politics and praxis hold the key to addressing the threat this terrifying conjuncture poses for human security everywhere".

Peggy Antrobus was born in Jamaica. Her studies in Economics led her to a gradual commitment in the field of socioeconomic development. Working with NGOs and discovering feminism have transformed her understanding of economy and politics forever. She has worked for the UN, the Women and Development Unit (WAND) and the Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) network.

See English version at www.zedbooks.co.uk
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Collection Global Issues

12 francophone publishers deal with different issues on the challenges of globalization (natural resources, development aid, North-South relations, etc.). An international collection for another globalization: “Global Issues” also exists in English and in Portuguese. Short essays, conveying diagnoses and proposals, perspectives for action, accessible to a large public. Bearing the “Le Livre équitable” (Fair Book) label, this collection is subject to fair and solidarity-based trade agreements.

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The book sector in Morocco: a preoccupying situation, February 2008

As the Casablanca International Book Fair (February 9 to 17, 2008) opens its foors in Morocco, the Alliance of Independent Publishers wishes to express its deepest concerns with regard to the situation of independent book retail and, more generally, of the entire local book industry.

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Une aiguille nue

Author(s) : Nuruddin FARAH
Publishing countries : Benin, Cameroon, Canada, Ivory Coast, France, Senegal, Switzerland
Language(s) : French
Price : 20 €

In A Naked Needle, with a finesse that is not lacking in nerve – the explicit reference is to none other than James Joyce’s Ulysses– Nuruddin Farah adds to the love story a stroll through the city, as well as a detailed analysis of the psychology of his characters, each of whom sees the relationships from a different viewpoint. This increases the readers’ feelings of empathy, and they will inevitably be surprised as they identifies with one or other member of this community.
This is where one of the keys to the great success of Farah’s novels lies: the power of the novelist to take us gently and firmly by the hand and make us identify with individuals who remain timeless. “Outside of time, because they are them although they could be us” – writes Abdourahman A.Waberi in the prologue.

Born in Baidoa, in what was then Italian Somalia, Nuruddin Farah grew up in Ogaden, a Somali province in eastern Ethiopia, before going off to study in India in the mid 1970s. Back in his home country, he made a name for himself in 1968 in Mogadishu as a teacher, but above all as the first novelist to use both English and Somali. A double success – unusual, certainly – which was to precipitate his exile, sealed by the military junta of Mohamed Siad Barre, who came to power in 1969.

In an excellent translation into French by Catherine Pierre-Bon and a remarkable cover design, A Naked Needle signals the editorial orientation of the “Terres d’écritures” collection, which is being published jointly by seven French-language publishers. A demanding collection of books that are destined to last, and which strongly reassert the universality of literature.

Year of publication : 2007,
260 pages,
14,5 X 22 cm

Collection Terres d’écritures

The collection “Terres d’écritures” welcomes popular, literary and poetry creations co-published by publishers from the North and the South. Co-publications in this collection are labeled “Le Livre équitable” (Fair Book label).

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A “smart” book donation operation at the Geneva African Book Fair, April, 2009

Publishing countries : Switzerland

The Alliance is present at the Geneva African Book Fair (April 22 to 26, 2009) and gives you the opportunity to participate in a smart book donation operation. By buying one or several youth books produced in Africa from the African bookshop on the Fair, as well as a pre-paid envelope from the Alliance, you can mail the books yourself to a library in Africa.

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Meeting of the Spanish-language network in Buenos Aires, April, 2009

Publishing countries : Argentina

The members of the Spanish-language network met at the Buenos Aires Book Fair in Argentina, from April 18 to 22, 2009. On this occasion, the representatives from 6 Latin-American collectives of independent publishers held a specific meeting to exchange their experiences.

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Dauchez l’Africain, maître et comédien

Author(s) : Pierre CHAMBERT
Publishing countries : France, Mali
Language(s) : French
Price : 17 €

Algiers, Tlemcen, Angers, Saint-Etienne, Firminy, Yaounde, Bamako, Philippe Dauchez, in all these cities, played of his art, theatre, as an actor, director or professor.

Once working with Albert Camus as an assistant, he was always impassioned for the integration of theatre in the City in all its forms, classical, popular, traditional... From large French scenes to Malians villages, he has always worked with the same simplicity and the same commitment. This book recalls his history, his passion for life, theatre and people, in a text which makes cross the intimacy and the universal, history and everyday life, erudite theatre and popular art. Pierre Chambert draws up us a poetic portrait of a man who put his very whole life at the service of a useful theatre.

Pierre Chambert, a poet and a writer, is an inspector-advisor for theatre and performing arts at the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. He is currently posted in Guyana, near Amazonia, its legends and its storytellers.

Year of publication: 2006, 256 pages

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L’Ombre d’Imana (The Shadow of Imana)

Author(s) : Véronique TADJO
Publishing countries : Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Rwanda, Senegal, Tunisia
Language(s) : French
Price : 1500 FCFA / 2,3 €

Invited in 1998 to a writers’ residence in Rwanda, Véronique Tadjo, from the Ivory Coast, discovered the remnants left by genocide. For collective memory’s sake, she decided to write in order to give faces, names, and lives to those that she met, whether victims or torturers. At times reporting, at times fiction, this novel gives a human perspective on one of the greatest dramas experienced by contemporary Africa. This work is a proof of literature’s ability to give a new look on the past and to help people relearn how to live together. In order that such barbarity doesn’t happen again.

From the Ivory Coast, Véronique Tadjo currently lives in South Africa. She writes books, collections of poetry, and children’s books. The “Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noire 2005” (Literary Grand Prize for sub-Saharan Africa) was awarded to her for the whole of her works.

Year of publication: 2006,
144 pages,
12 X 19 cm

Collection Terres solidaires

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).

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World Social Forum Proposals

Publishing countries : France, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Morocco
Language(s) : Spanish , French , Portuguese
Price : 18 €

Set up in Porto Alegre in 2001 in response to the Davos World Economic Forum, the World Social Forum has, with each publication, continued to flesh out, internationalize and build up its organization.
However, due to lack of information on the content of the debates, it has never succeeded in convincing the media, public opinion and politicians of its ability to put forward constructive ideas. A great many proposals have nevertheless emerged. Drawing on their memory of the previous forums, eleven editors, women and men from different regions of the world, covered the debates at Porto Alegre, for the 2005 WSF event, and collected the proposals that emerged from the eleven themes addressed. Their work demonstrates that the World Social Forum is a genuine vehicle for helping build a world community that is able to produce a significant amount of intellectual advances and put forward specific proposals based on its conviction that “another world is possible”.

Year of publication: 2006

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A Violência das Cidades

Author(s) : Yves PEDRAZZINI
Publishing countries : Angola, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal
Language(s) : Portuguese

Translated into portuguese by Giselle UNTI.

This book was co-published by the Brazilian publisher
Vozes, the Angolan publisher Chá de Caxinde and the Portuguese publisher Campo das Letras and received support from the Prince Claus Foundation for culture and development.
Following Les batailles de l’eau by Mohammed Larbi Bougerra, this is the second French-language title of the “Enjeux Planète” series, translated and published in the Portuguese series named “Questões Mundiais”.

In the North as in the South, we like big cities, but we don’t like their violence. A common tendency is to blame the poorest inhabitants for this violence, and then, in order to fight against its spread, to adopt strategies based on strong security measures: our societies are quickly becoming societies of fear. Town planning, already, divides space into fortresses and ghettos. One cannot continue to conceptualize urbanization in police stations: an alternative analysis of the phenomena of urban violence and insecurity is necessary. This can only be done by putting this question in perspective, in the context of the violence of urbanization and globalisation, while also taking into account, the point of view of the poor and particularly among these poor, the “malicious ones”, outsiders, illegal immigrants, criminals, members of gangs.
When everything seems blocked, the “vision of the poor” opens the way to a pacification of urban territories. Against the current obsession with security, a creative dialogue is essential with those that the ruling power blames or distrusts. This book is addressed to all those who seek to understand the logic of the city, those for whom the city inspires fear and love, who don’t want to give up it, but also to the inhabitants of the extreme districts, even if they are poor and “malicious”, even if the city destroys them more than it protects them. To rebuild cities we can live in, we must disobey the models.

Year of publication: 2006,
188 pages

Collection Global Issues

12 francophone publishers deal with different issues on the challenges of globalization (natural resources, development aid, North-South relations, etc.). An international collection for another globalization: “Global Issues” also exists in English and in Portuguese. Short essays, conveying diagnoses and proposals, perspectives for action, accessible to a large public. Bearing the “Le Livre équitable” (Fair Book) label, this collection is subject to fair and solidarity-based trade agreements.

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Bibliodiversity Observatory

Éditer dans l’espace francophone (Publishing in the French-speaking world)

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

Collection État des lieux de l’édition

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Call to French-language authors, publishers and institutions, March 2007

Publishing countries : Ivory Coast

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.

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80 recommendations & tools in support of bibliodiversity

These 80 recommendations are built on the principles upheld in the 2014 International Declaration of independent publishers, an important document promoting bibliodiversity, signed on September 20th 2014, by more than 400 independent publishers from 45 countries.

They raise the necessary prerequisites, divided by themes, for the development, maintenance and strengthening of bibliodiversity in concerned countries. Some recommendations are accompanied by tools and projects (existing or to be developed in the context of the 2015-2016 Alliance programme of activities), enabling a practical implementation of independent publishers’ proposals.

Contents of the 80 recommendations & tools in support of bibliodiversity:

* Public policies safeguarding bibliodiversity
* Proposals and actions supporting digital bibliodiversity
* The Amazon system, a threat to bibliodiversity?
* Essential measures for publishing in local and national languages
* Methods for rethinking book donations
* Proposals and actions to develop solidarity publishing partnerships
* Activities to strengthen diversity in youth publishing

For all book actors to take ownership of these recommendations and tools, we invite you to contact us with your comments, suggestions, ideas, and proposals that could enhance and strengthen this document.

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