English

Some 17 publishers from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Egypt but also from France, Côte d’Ivoire and Argentina will meet in Tunis from 12 to 14 May 2011 to discuss e-publishing in the Arab world. Further to the meetings organised in Ouagadougou in December 2010 in partnership with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the Alliance continues to debate on the opportunities of e-publishing for independent publishers and for bibliodiversity. Through the theoretical sessions and practical workshops, publishers will have a chance tackle and explore e-publishing issues in the Arab world, particularly given the topicality and the role – sometimes crucial – of the Internet and the new media in the Arab revolutions.

The study on e-publishing in developing countries, conducted by Octavio KULESZ and coordinated by the Alliance, enabled through the support of Prince Claus, will be presented on Thursday, 12 May 2011 at 4.00 pm at the Hotel Les Ambassadeurs (Tunis). This is an event not to be missed!

Rooted in African daily life, in the streets of Bamako and Conakry, in the fishing port of Cotonou, on Tunisian soil, or redolent of Afro-Brazilian heritage, the 281 tales, documentaries, albums and novels that make up the catalogue are just waiting to be discovered. Books by nine independent publishing houses from Africa (South Africa, Benin, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, the Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, Tunisia) and from Brazil are now available in France, Belgium and Switzerland ! If you would like to diversify your stock, read in Bambara, in Arabic, in English, in Portuguese, in Kinyarwanda, in Malagasy, in French, if you are simply looking for some escapism … the solution is here … just turn the pages !

The Alliance distributes all the books contained in the catalogue in France, Belgium and Switzerland. To order, go to page 83 of the catalogue.

The “Lectures d’Afrique(s)” catalogue was developped with the support of the Ile-de-France Region.

Rooted in African daily life, in the streets of Bamako and Conakry, in the fishing port of Cotonou, on Tunisian soil, or redolent of Afro-Brazilian heritage, the 281 tales, documentaries, albums and novels that make up the catalogue are just waiting to be discovered. Books by nine independent publishing houses from Africa (South Africa, Benin, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, the Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, Tunisia) and from Brazil are now available in France, Belgium and Switzerland!
If you would like to diversify your stock, read in Bambara, in Arabic, in English, in Portuguese, in Kinyarwanda, in Malagasy, in French, if you are simply looking for some escapism… the solution is here… just turn the pages !

The Alliance distributes all the books contained in the catalogue.

Download the catalogue here.

The “African readings” catalogue was created with the support of the Ile-de-France Region.

Ten independent publishers from ten countries will be present during the African Book Fair in Geneva from 29 April to 3 May 2011. They will participate in roundtables and workshops about digital publishing, children’s book publishing in Africa, publishing in national and local languages, etc.

This event has been initiated by the Alliance, in partnership with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (Institut de la Francophonie Numérique) and the SDC - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

In line with decisions taken at the 2007 International Assembly on Independent Publishers in Paris, the language network Coordinators and the Board of the Alliance have been meeting on an annual basis since 2009 (please see our November 2009 Communiqué).

On 11 October 2010, the Coordinators and the Board of the Alliance met in Paris and decided jointly to create “The International Committee of Independent Publishers” (ICIP) [...].
Because the publisher members – Allies – are the primary players in the Alliance, the members of the ICIP and the Board of the Alliance are submitting the creation of the International Committee of Independent Publishers (ICIP) to your approval.

This collection, which takes its title from an iconic verse by Fernando Pessoa, is a veritable invitation to a journey through sixteen tales by
authors from Brazil, Guinea-Bissau and Angola.

Year of publication: 2010; 224 pages; 14 X 21 cm; ISBN: 978-85-347-0294-2

Extract from the Tunisian Publishers’ Union’s communiqué, published on 21 January 2011

“The Tunisian Publishers’ Union, whose members met on Friday, 21 January, congratulates the Tunisian people, is proud of its glorious revolution and pays tribute to its martyrs, while declaring its unwavering support for the popular resistance”.

Paris, December 2010

It is with great concern that the International Alliance of Independent Publishers has noted the recent censorship of a book in Spain, and the threats made against the independent publishing house Txalaparta, member of the Alliance’s Spanish-speaking network.

The book in question, “El manual del torturador español” (The Spanish Torturer’s Manual) – by Xabier MAKAZAGA denounces the torture carried out by the Spanish police. The book was withdrawn from a public library (in the Basauri town council), following a request by a political party and certain Madrid newspapers to remove it from all libraries where it was made available to readers. However the practices described in this book support the accusations already made in reports by Amnesy International and by the UN Recorder on Human Rights. The campaign against this book has already been publicly denounced by public librarians. Furthermore the Basque Country Human Rights Observer (Behatokia) sent a letter of protest to Frank de la Rue, Special Recorder on Human Rights and Freedom of Expression with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose headquarters are in Geneva.

The International Alliance of independent publishers, whose objectives include defending freedom of expression and denouncing all forms of censorship, also has a duty to respond publicly when attacks or infringements are directed – for ideological reasons – against independent publishers, whose very job it is to encourage the dissemination of ideas and to contribute to forging the identity of people and their culture.

One has only to examine Txalaparta’s publishing catalogue to appreciate the vast range of literary works and essays which constitute an undeniable contribution to bibliodiversity, while reflecting a clear editorial policy.

This is why we independent publishers are appealing to the Spanish authorities to respect the work of independent publishers and to encourage respect for fundamental rights and democracy.

We also appeal to independent publishers, booksellers, librarians and readers to follow the development of this matter closely and to express their support to Txalaparta Publishing in order to defend and respect the right to information that is true and diverse.

The Spanish-language network of the International Alliance of independent publishers

On Monday, 6 December 2010, following hours of online discussions among the 9 members of the Reading Committee of the “Terres solidaires” collection (“United Lands”), the 2010 prizewinners of the collection were announced: “Trop de soleil tue l’amour”, by Mongo BETI and “Mandela et moi”, by Lewis NKOSI!
These two new joint co-publications will be launched in Africa in February 2011.

The Alliance expresses its warmest thanks to the members of the Reading Committee (see the list below) for their involvement and their enthusiastic discussions!

• Agnès ADJAHO (former manager of the Notre Dame bookshop, Bénin);

• Élisabeth DALDOUL (Elyzad Publishing, Tunisia);

• Boubacar Boris DIOP (writer, Senegal - Tunisia);

• Emmanuel DONGALA (writer, Congo- United States);

• Mariame GBA (librarian, Côte d’Ivoire);

• Sofiane HADJADJ (Barzakh Publishing, Algeria);

• Jean-Claude NABA (Sankoka & Gurli Publishing, Burkina Faso);

• François NKEME (Ifrikiya Publishing, Cameroon);

• The book club of Oujda High School (Morocco).

The “Dictionnaire de la narratologie” (“Dictionary of Narratology”) is a reference work whose objective is to facilitate the dissemination and transmission of ideas by standardising concepts among Arabic-speaking readers. It enables the refinement of the definitions offered in various essays by Arab critics, whose conceptual framework is drawn directly from the works of theoreticians of Western narratology. The Dictionary is presented in the form of a glossary of terms in use in the analysis of the narration. It also contains terms relevant to the study of narrative and enunciative narratology, terms and notions borrowed from pragmatics and discourse analysis.

Arab terms have their French and English equivalents to fulfil the needs of a readership both French-speaking (Maghreb) and English-speaking (Middle East).

The Dictionary of Narratology is intended for students and researchers, literary critics and authors.

Year of publication: September 2010, 600 pages, 16,5 X 23,5 cm, 540 concepts presented in French, English and Arabic,
ISBN: 978-9973-33-294-3

The “Terres solidaires” collection was created in 2007, to strengthen the circulation of African literature in the Francophone space. Publishing houses that contribute to the collection are based in sub-Saharan Africa and in North Africa. Initially created to republish books written by African writers published in France and make them accessible to an African readership through the solidarity co-publishing process, it is now republishing books originally appearing on African publishers’ lists. Such is the case with Munyal, les larmes de la patience, by Djaïli Amadou Amal, the 13^th title of the collection, originally published in 2017 by Proximité publishing, based in Yaoundé, Cameroun.

Publishers select texts and work in close collaboration throughout the editorial process. The principle of a selling price adapted to the buying power of the readership (on average 3 500 FCFA, or 5 Euros) remains one of its pillars.

Read more here...

The Digital Lab was created by the International Alliance of Independent Publishers to support independent publishers in their activities, reflections and digital practices. As a space of reflection, exchanges and discussions on digital bibliodiversity in both the Northern and Southern hemisphere, the Lab also offers digital tools adapted to the needs of independent publishers while respecting local ecosystems.

The Alliance Lab is built around four focus areas:

• Tools and resources for professionals
• Reflections and discussions on digital publishing, including innovative initiatives in the countries of the South (surveys and analyses);
• In situ workshops (capacity building and peer exchanges on digital matters);
• A personalised tutorial offered to member publishers of the Alliance.

The Lab is updated and facilitated by independent publishers, the team of the Alliance and also through partnerships with independent professional organisations and collectives from various continents.

Read here the pre-print version uploaded on Academia.edu 21 May 2019

Final version, to be published in two parts, in Logos: Journal of the World Publishing Community (https://brill.com/view/journals/logo/logo-overview.xml)

Part I: Volume 30 (2019): Issue 3, Part II: Volume 30 (2019): Issue 4

Reprinted with permission of the author.
Copyright © Hans Zell Publishing Consultants 2019

Abstract:

In terms of languages, markets and labels, African publishing represents a field of constant discourse. It also continually questions not just the way we look at books, but also our relationship with them and with the international publishing industry. The time has long passed when the leading discourse on publishing in Africa was devoted primarily to a “book famine” related to the African economic crisis of the 1980s. Over the past three decades, the African book market has done nothing but grow on the continent, diversifying its increasingly dense and transnational production through the circulation of books and of publishing information. Nonetheless, quite often African publishing is presented in terms of the difficulties faced by its stakeholders, rather than those stakeholders’ agency, their capacity to develop their markets. Indeed, history has shown that the African publishing industry is a mirror of the globalisation of publishing and of its economic flux. That being the case, the economic challenges that one can observe in the African industry is thus a reflection of the imbalances, alternatives – also margins – of a world of books that is increasingly concentrated. In this sense, African publishing invites a two-fold interrogation: in Africa it must advocate a cultural and economic legitimacy within evolving socio-political situations and an outward-looking educational market. Internationally, it must position itself in terms of non-African publishing of literature and non-fiction that makes up the majority of African intellectual production in the world. By examining the discourse around African books, African publishers’ discourse, and the evolution of African books in French since the 1980’s, this article aims to question the relationship between the book industry in Africa and the globalisation of books phenomenon in order to bring to light a network of exchanges, tensions, and influences that turns the African book market into a veritable “glocal” space.

Read the article here (in French).

Thierry, R. (2019). Les éditeurs d’Afrique francophone sur l’échiquier du « glocal »
(1980-2019). Mémoires du livre / Studies in Book Culture, 10 (2).
https://doi.org/10.7202/1060972ar

Contact the Alliance team to get a free digital version of this issue dedicated to public book policies.

Publication: June 2019
The Bibliodiversity Journal is copublished by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of independent publishers.
See other issues of Bibliodiversity Journal here: “Self-publishing”; “Committed publishing”…

Overview of the issue:
From censorship to safeguarding, public initiatives in the book sector are varied.
This issue proposes academic articles, professional’ views and two previously unpublished regional analyses (sub-Saharan Africa and Spanish-speaking Latin America), taking us from Russia to Switzerland, via Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Quebec, France and Argentina.
All contributions seek an answer to this question: does the intervention of public authorities support editorial diversity?

Contents of the ‘Public book policies issue’:

• “Introduction: action taken by public authorities to support books”, by Étienne Galliand, Editor-in-Chief of Bibliodiversity Journal

• “Federalism and cohesion – New book policies in Switzerland”, by Carine Corajoud, historian (Switzerland)

• “A relative autonomy – A comparative analysis of the room for manoeuvre
  in public publishing in France”, by Hélène Seiler-Juilleret, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Higher School of Social Sciences, France)

• “Negotiating control, promoting reading – Independent publishers and the Russian State in the 2010s”, by Bella Ostromooukhova, Paris Sorbonne University (France and Russia)

• “Morocco: escheated books – The shortcomings in state involvement in the books and written word sector”, by Anouk Cohen, CNRS (France and Morocco) and Kenza Sefrioui, Ph.D. in comparative literature, literary critic and publisher (Morocco)

• “Government policy on books in Tunisia” – A publisher’s view, by Nouri Abid, Med Ali publishers (Tunisia)

• “Government policy on books in Syria” – A publisher’s view, by Samar Haddad, Atlas Publishing (Syria)

• “Government policy on books in Lebanon” – A bookseller’s view, by Michel Choueiri, bookseller (France and the United Arab Emirates)

• “Government policy on books in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. A cross-sectional analysis of data collected in 12 countries”, by Luc Pinhas, University of Paris 13 Villetaneuse (France)

• “Publishing and public authorities: the Quebec case – Or the influence of public action on editorial independence?”, by Pascal Genêt, Sherbrooke University (Quebec-Canada)

• “Laws, public policies, institutions and measures to support books and reading
  in Latin America – An analysis of data gathered in 10 countries”, by Andrés E. Fernández Vergara (University of Chile)

• “From culture towards business – An analysis of a state support programme
  for local publishing in Buenos Aires: Opción Libros”, by José de Souza Muniz Jr., Federal Centre for Technological Education, Minas Gerais (Brazil)

Publishing & the Book in Africa: A Literature Review for 2018
The fourth in a series of annual reviews of select new literature in English that has appeared on the topic of publishing and the book sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

Read the pre-print version here.

To be published in The African Book Publishing Record, Volume 44, Issue 2, (May 2019)

Reprinted with permission of the author.
Copyright © Hans Zell Publishing Consultants 2019

African Book Industry Data & the State of African National Bibliographies:
Read the Pre-print version here.

Published in The African Book Publishing Record, Volume 44, Issue 4 (Dec 2018): 363-389.

Reprinted with permission of the author.
Copyright © Hans Zell Publishing Consultants 2018

Read here the article “Au Maghreb, il y a urgence à structurer le secteur du livre”, by Kenza Sefrioui (En toutes lettres, Marocco), published by Le Monde Afrique (8 February, 2019)

Abstract of the issue:
Self-publishing is less and less perceived as an egocentric, narcissistic act – perhaps even spiteful. Bypassing the selective function of a third party (the publisher) in favour of a direct relationship with the potential reader - whether by choice or by necessity, when one has been rejected by those “in the know”- seems on the contrary perfectly in tune with the signs of our times, which advocates for transversal relations, fewer intermediaries and direct relationships between producers and consumers, quicker channels, wariness towards experts, elites and comitology.
If self-publishing is uninhibited, it is vibrant in its digital format, where entry requirements are now minor. However, is self-publishing a vector of bibliodiversity?
The notion of “independence” is also questioned by this development in terms of production. Indeed, the United States has often spoken of “indie” authors or ebooks, this figure of the independent author being now also assimilated and claimed in the French context. But what kind of independence are we talking about?

Contents of “Self-publishing”:

• Self-publishing: a vector of bibliodiversity? / By Sylvie Bosser, University of Paris 8

• Self-publishing in French literature. A historical overview of a multidimensional publishing practice / By Olivier Bessard-Banquy, University of Bordeaux-Montaigne

• Self-published authors on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Motivations, identities, practices and expectations / By Stéphanie Parmentier, University of Bordeaux-Montaigne

• Self-publishing of comics. A specific route into publishing / By Kevin Le Bruchec, University of Paris 13

• The (in)visible third party. Mentoring emerging writers: a process that encourages self-publishing / By Marie Caffari and Johanne Mohs, Berne University of the Arts

• Self-publishing: a unique phenomenon by its nature, scope and actors. Analysis of self-publishing in Latin America and beyond / By Daniel Benchimol, for the CERLALC

• Literary self-publishing in Morocco. Conditions, challenges and social significations of an growing cultural practice / By Kaoutar Harchi, Centre for Research on Social Links

• Self-publishing in Iran. A story of a dilemma against a backdrop of audacity / Case study of Azadeh Parsapour, publisher

• Les Éditions du Net. An interview with Henri Mojon / By Sylvie Bosser, University of Paris 8

A study published by African Studies Association (ASA) and African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK), to read here!