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)

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.