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Again this year, independent publishers will be in Frankfurt. To contact and meet them during the Fair, consult the document below!

Not to be missed, Thursday, 15 October, from 13h to 14h, Hall 3.1 (Weltempfang)
“Independent feminist publishing across borders – a dialogue between 4 feminist publishers from 3 continents” – a round table organised by the Alliance, in partnership with Litprom and the Fair – with Renate Klein (Spinifex Press, Australia), Susan Hawthorne (Spinifex Press, Australia), Colleen Higgs (Modjaji Books, South Africa) and Müge Gürsoy Sökmen (Metis Publishers, Turkey). Facilitated by Juan Carlos Sáez (JC Sáez Editor, Chile).

Preparations for the 5^th edition of the International Bibliodiversity Day are underway all around the world.
The B Day video is available, to be widely distributed around you! You will also find ready-to-use posters here, that you simply need to download and use! Activities and meetings are planned in Mexico, Argentina, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Italy…

Follow B Day activities on this blog and on Facebook. And find out what is happening in your country and/or city!

A celebration - the 21^st September 2015!
Celebrate bibliodiversity with us on the 21^st of September.
For the 5^th International Bibliodiversity Day: picnics, debates, readings, books appearing in unusual places... And coming soon, a video!
Write to us for more information, or to tell us about events going on in your country!

MICA and the Alliance’s Spanish-speaking publishers meeting (Argentina), 2-6 September 2015
In parallel with MICA (Argentina’s cultural industry trade show), 16 Argentinian publishers from Bolivia, Chilli, Colombia, Spain, the Canary Islands, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay will get together in Buenos Aires thanks to support from MICA, the Argentinian Book Chamber and Argentinian members of the Alliance. On the agenda: the implementation of the 80 recommendations promoting bibliodiversity in Latin America and Spain, the creation of a map of Latin America’s public policies...
The publishers will also participate in MICA events: copyright exchanges, co-publishing days, round-table discussions about the concentration of publishing and bibliodiversity...
The program for the Spanish-speaking publishers meeting will be available on the Alliance’s site soon. More information about MICA here!

The International Committee of Independent Publishers meeting - ICIP (Paris) 9-11 October 2015
The ICIP is made up of 6 representatives of the Alliance’s linguistic networks and will meet in Paris for 3 days: the governance of the Alliance, a report and implementation of the recommendations and project resulting from the International Assembly of Independent Publishers, meetings between Alliance partners, freedom of expression and publishing, copyright in Europe and the rest of the world... a busy program!
The CIEI program will be available on the Alliance site soon.

A new website!
A new design, new functions and an improved “Resource Center”: Discover the new Alliance website in November 2015!

The Alliance will be closed from the 10^th to 21^st August. We wish you a great August in the meantime!

17 publishers from West Africa will meet in Dakar for this workshop facilitated by the Digital Lab of the Alliance, and through the support of the International Organization of the Francophonie, in partnership with Wikimedia France, the Afrilivres association and the Senegalese publishers association.
The workshop will include 3 sessions: training on Wikipedia (facilitated by Georges Fodouop and Donatien Foffi, two volunteer members of Wikimedia); the promotion of publishers lists on social networks (facilitated by Nicolas Gary, director of publication of the ActuaLitté Website); the development of Websites for African publishing houses, based on the Web template developed by the Digital Lab of the Alliance (facilitated by Mouhammed Diop, Senegalese developer).

17 independent publishers members of the Alliance will attend the Paris Book Fair, from 20 to 23 March 2015. The Alliance and publishers will also take part in meetings and roundtables… Consult the list of participants and programme through the link below!

And in the margins of the Fair:
Partial meeting of the French-speaking network: 2015 perspectives and discussions on “Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Publishing”
24 March 2015, Centre national du livre (CNL), Paris/ for members of the Alliance only

Meeting with independent publishers or authors from the Maghreb, facilitated in partnership with the Arab and Hebraic World Sorbonne Association (SAMAH)
24 March 2015, 19h00, University of Sorbonne, amphi Guizot (17, de la Sorbonne St - 75005 Paris)

The socio-economic environment, historical approach and political context are only some of the factors to consider in appreciating, in all its complexity and diversity, the notion of an independent publisher. Independent publishers in Chile, France, Benin, Lebanon, or India work in specific contexts that have direct consequences on their activities. However, although the situation differs from one country to another, it is possible to agree on some criteria in order to define what is an independent publisher. Independent publishers develop their editorial policy freely, autonomously, and without external interference. They are not the mouthpieces for a political party, religion, institution, communication group, or company. The structure of capital and the shareholders identity also affect their independence: the takeover of publishing houses by big companies not linked to publishing and implementation of profit-driven policies often result in a loss of independence and a shift in publishing orientation. Independent publishers, as defined by the Alliance’s publishers, are originating publishers: through their often-innovative publishing choices, freedom of speech, publishing and financial risk-taking, they participate in discussions, distribution, and development of their readers’ critical thinking. In this regard, they are key players in bibliodiversity.

Solidarity publishing partnerships, collaborative spaces, resource centre, Intercultural and face-to-face meetings... discover the programme of the Alliance in 2015!

The world (of ideas) is wounded

After the attack this Wednesday, January 7^th 2015 against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the 400 publishers of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers offer their most afflicted condolences with friends and family of the victims.

Today more than ever, solidarity is essential —we think about the journalists, cartoonists and publishers from all around the world who risk their lives for freedom of expression. We also hope that these attacks will not serve to feed more islamophobia and xenophobia in Europe.

We will continue with determination and conviction, as we have expressed it in the Declarations of Dakar (2003), Paris (2007), and Cape Town (2014), to work with journalists, authors and creators to struggle against any form of suppression of the word, and to foster fair speech.

9 January 2015, 400 independent publishers from 45 countries in the word,
members of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers

On 23 October this year, the “Terres solidaires” reading Committee selected the next two titles to be published in the collection.

As every year, the committee, composed of book professionals and mediators in Africa, held a continent-wide virtual meeting. After several hours of exchanges and discussions it is, once again, two great African literature novels that were selected: Léonora Miano’s La saison de l’ombre (initially published by Grasset publishers in 2013, 2013 Fémina prize winner) and Hubert Haddad’s Palestine (initially published by Zulma publishers in 2007, 2008 Cinq Continents prize winner). These two novels will be available in Africa in 2015 and 2016 respectively, at a price adapted to local readers’ purchasing power, through an African publisher collective that will copublish these books.

Click here for more information on the other 9 titles published in the “Terres solidaires” collection, as well as on the collection’s publishers and countries where books are distributed.

The Alliance wishes to thank and acknowledge the exceptional work of the reading committee members:
• Saïd AFOULOUS (journalist, Morocco)
• Layla CHAOUNI (Le Fennec publishing, Morocco)
• Élisabeth DALDOUL (elyzad publishing, Tunisia)
• Yasmin ISSAKA-COUBAGEAT (Graines de Pensées publishing, Togo)
• Ludovic KIBORA (journalist, Burkina-Faso)
• Rachid MOKHTARI (journalist, Algeria)
• Jean-Claude NABA (Sankofa & Gurli publishing, Burkina Faso)
• François NKEME (Ifrikiya publishing, Cameroun)
• Serge POUTH (journalist, Cameroun)
• Felwine SARR (teacher, researcher and bookseller, Senegal)

Since its creation, “Terres solidaires” collection is supported by the International Orgainsation of the Francophonie.

In 2017, publishers who are members of the Alliance along with academics and experts united to collectively produce some research on Public Book Policies in Latin America and in Sub-Saharan Africa. This has since been converted into a unique digital, graphic and interactive tool for informing and centralising data on the public support systems for books and reading in 22 countries.

In 2024, the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, thanks to the support of Open Society Foundation, extends this project to the Arab world for a better understanding of public authorities’ commitment to books and reading in the different countries of the Arab world. To this end, data is collected in 10 countries based on a common questionnaire. The data will then be presented on the dedicated website for each country. A cross-sectional analysis will be carried out on the basis of these data; the Alliance is looking for an author to draft this cross-sectional analysis.

Deadline to apply (equipe@alliance-editeurs.org): 13 May 2024

This unique and important work! The mapping and the analysis will be presented publicly in December 2024 or January 2025 to professionals and representatives of public authorities in the countries.

Read more here (in Arabic) / see on the right the English version for download

“It is important to understand the key role that the public procurement of books plays–similar to that of roads in a country’s development–and the related impacts of these actions on the ecosystem of books, culture, and education.

In purchasing books and socializing the processes of reading, the state’s actions may have numerous impacts. The selection of books is not only a question of quality and price, nor is it a simple technical process or an isolated action.”

This document is based on the Brevísimo manual de buenas prácticas para las compras públicas de libros (print and digital) that was included in the work of the Comisión de Compras Públicas de la Política Nacional de la Lectura y el Libro 2015-2020 (Chile), prepared by Paulo Slachevsky, coordinator of the commission. We are grateful to Germán Gacio Baquiola for his critical feedback and contributions.

Read the Manual

“Una buena política de adquisición de libros por parte del Estado tiene múltiples y significativos impactos en el desarrollo cultural, social, económico y político de un país […] Por todo ello es tan importante mejorar, incrementar, trasparentar, desconcentrar y fortalecer la presencia de autoras/es y editoriales locales en los procesos de compras públicas de libros. También analizar, revisar y diversificar constantemente las áreas en que se centran los gastos, como los libros de textos que concentran generalmente gran parte del gasto público en libros.”

Este documento reproduce, con algunas modificaciones, el Brevísimo Manual de buenas prácticas para las compras públicas de libros (en papel y en formato digital) que fue incorporado al trabajo de la Comisión de Compras Públicas - Política Nacional de la Lectura y el Libro 2015-2020 (Chile), realizado por Paulo Slachevsky (LOM Ediciones, Chile) como coordinador de la Comisión. Este manual ha sido revisado por Germán Gacio Baquiola (Editores independientes de Ecuador).

Leer el manual

Read the call for contributions for the next issue of Bibliodiversité review, to be published in October 2024.

Please contact us if you would like to submit a contribution to the Bibliodiversité review under the topic “The precariousness of independent publishing”: equipe@alliance-editeurs.org

“Co-publishing is a reminder of the extent to which solidarity is the main factor in the successful realisation of any project. It is a symbol of the strength that can be found when several publishers unite together. The book becomes much cheaper, accessible to the maximum number of readers and reaches several countries at the same time.” Lilian Thuram

For more than twenty years, independent publishing houses that are members of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers have collaborated, sharing resources and know-how and developing solidarity co-publishing.

To record and preserve this expertise, the Alliance is going back to the beginnings of solidarity co-publishing and presenting the history of a pioneering collection, “Terres solidaires”, as well as the story of the publication of one of its titles.

With this document, the Alliance also wishes to reaffirm the need for solidarity co-publishing in order to:
• disseminate texts (thereby helping expand the literary ecosystem);
• strengthen local book industries;
• make books more accessible to readers (adapted price).

Thank you very much to Armand Jamme for writing this document and to Mariette Robbes for its graphic design and illustration.

Order this issue in digital format here (in French).

Sale price (digital format - PDF): 5 euros
ISBN: 978-2-490855-51-3

Published: 23 March 2023

The Bibliodiversité review is co-published by Double ponctuation and the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

See all previous issues of the review here (“Inclusion and Diversity in the Book Industry”, “The Alternatives. Ecology, social economy: the future of the book?”, “Minority Languages”, “Public Book Policies”, “Self-Publishing”, “Publishing and Commitment”, “Translation and Globalization”...).

Presentation
Many independent publishers and bookshops are faced with the question of the transmission of their businesses, and sometimes struggle to find someone to take them on. This not only impacts the individuals concerned. Given the extent to which, as a generation leaves the world of work, the phenomenon is gaining momentum in Europe as well as Latin America and Africa, the future of a certain idea of the book is also at stake.

But is transmission necessary? And if yes, to who, when and how? Are there differences between the transmission of a publishing house or bookshop and that of other businesses? In a sector undergoing great change, the giving up of a business in the book industry poses a broader question about the capacity for renewal of cultural organisations – of their people, practices and content – but also about the integration of legislative, societal and technological changes.

Here, a collection of texts tackles from different points of view this essential yet under-studied subject. More than a practical guide – something it appears it would be difficult to write, given the variety of situations encountered – in this issue we seek above all to share academic analyses and accounts of experiences to help us reflect on the notion of renewal and think about these transmissions.

Read an excerpt from this issue, published by ActuaLitté: the testimony of Colleen Higgs, Modjaji Books in South Africa

Contents (in French)

Solidarity co-publishing and translations contribute to the circulation of content and exchange of ideas. Solidarity co-publishing makes it possible for the activities and costs associated with publishing and printing to be shared, which means that books can be made available to wider audiences at a fair price. Solidarity co-publishing partnerships bring structure to the book market in the medium term: distributing texts in often inaccessible areas, reinforcing professional capabilities, developing catalogues, and enabling fair professional and commercial exchanges between the North and South and the development of innovative exchanges and partnerships between countries in the South. Here, independent publishers share their experiences and encourage public authorities to support and assist solidarity publishing partnerships.

Why have a Guide?
This Guide is based on ideas, discussions, round tables and workshops prior to and during the International Conference of Independent Publishers in Pamplona-Iruñea (23-26 November 2021).

The objectives of this guide are to:
• suggest lines of approach and actions for publishers who are members of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, and to book professionals more broadly;
• help implement and put into practice the principles and values defended by the Alliance’s members;
• illustrate these principles using examples (experience, projects, ideas, etc. from professionals) which may serve as sources of inspiration.

How?
The “entries” in this Guide are thematic. Given that the intention of the Guide is to present in a practical way the principles of the Pamplona-Iruñea Declaration, the main entries are currently as follows:
• decolonial publishing
• ecological publishing
• feminist and LGBTQI+ publishing
• free publishing
• social publishing
• solidarity-based publishing

This Guide will evolve; its form is not fixed. Indeed, several of the Guide’s entries require input that will come from the work of the thematic working groups which will be tasked with making suggestions and enhancing these entries. It will then be possible to update and adapt the Guide over time in line with the evolution of practices and ideas inside the Alliance (in particular through post-conference thematic working groups).

Prerequisite
The Alliance is a unique intercultural network, whose specificity and strength lie in respect for diversity.
Kindness, curiosity, listening and respect for points of view, as well as equal opportunities for speech, must be the basis of every exchange within the Alliance. There can be no place for hate speech or non-inclusive discourse, which would be against the fundamental principles of the Alliance.
This prerequisite is the basis on which the Alliance’s members organise themselves and work together – on the creation of this Guide, among other things.

Warning
The Guide to Good Practice is intended as food for thought and discussion. It cannot commit the publishers who are members of the Alliance to all the proposals and recommendations it contains. Indeed, the International Alliance of Independent Publishers is aware of the geographical diversity of its members and, consequently, of their cultural diversity. It is also fully aware of the impossibility of implementing certain measures (e.g. on book ecology, etc.) in some countries for many reasons related to the political, social, economic, cultural environment…

Read the Guide

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.