The Alliance

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!

Container full of books inundating the market, books produced in another cultural setting given away free to readers or public libraries, the setup of local branches by publishing groups from abroad aiming to achieve monopoly conditions… Drawing on some examples of practices with damaging consequences to the publishing market in developing countries, Étienne Galliand (founder of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers) presents an overview of the predation to which emerging markets are subjected directly or indirectly. An edifying panorama.

As a complement to this article, you can consult the Guidelines for Fair Publishing Partnerships (in French).

The label “Fair Trade Book” is attributed by the International Alliance of independent publishers to works published in the context of international publishing agreements that respect each other’s particularities: fair co- publishing. These fair copublishings enable the sharing of costs linked to intellectual and physical production of books and therefore ensure an economy of scale; an exchange of professional know-how and a common experience, while respecting the publishers’ cultural contexts and identities; and a distribution of works on a broader scale by adjusting prices for each geographic zone.

The notion of fair speech expands the idea of ‘free speech’ to incorporate the concept of justice. Indeed, in a context of media concentration, dominant powers (whether political, economic, religious, ideological, etc.) are the most represented and heard (because they are powerful or loud). Fair speech fosters speech equity for other voices that are often marginalised and/or censored to be heard. Fair speech therefore promotes an equitable access to expression (for example for women, historically marginalised groups, etc.), enabling an authentic diversity of voices. This concept was created by Betty McLellan in Unspeakable (Spinifex Press, 2010, Australia) and promoted by Susan Hawthorne in Bibliodiversity: A Manifesto for Independent Publishing (Spinifex Press, 2014, Australia).

The Dakar Declaration (December 2003) is the foundational text of the Alliance and birth certificate of the association. The Guadalajara Declaration (October 2005) is the outcome of a meeting held in Mexico between independent publishers from the Latin world.
The International Declaration of independent publishers for the protection and promotion of bibliodiversity (July 2007) was drafted and signed by the 70 publishers participating to the International Assembly of independent publishers held in Paris in 2007.
These three texts, as well as the 2014 International Declaration of independent publishers, are milestones in the history of the Alliance – they are a reminder, and bear witness to the present bearing testimony to the commitment of independent publishers, and serve as their policy guidelines.

Africa.
A continent of vast riches buried under countless ills...
Words, deaths and blood...
Africa is doing badly. But who says so?
Its children. Its artists. And its writers.
Thanks to Raharimanana and Soeuf Elbadawi, African voices are unmasking the truth about French Africa through short stories. Chicanery, espionage, torture and other manipulations... Anything goes.
Thirteen writers remind us that Africa is neither deaf nor dumb. They give us the latest short stories from French Africa to show again and again the reality of what is at stake in the old French colonies, which are now considered independent.

Year of publication: 2003

Intellectual property rights, TRIPS, patents - they sound technical, even boring. Yet, as Vandana Shiva shows, what kinds of ideas, technologies, identification of genes, even manipulations of life forms can be owned and exploited for profit by giant corporations is a vital issue for our times. In this readable and compelling introduction to an issue that lies at the heart of the socalled knowledge economy, Vandana Shiva makes clear how this Western-inspired and unprecedented widening of the co. . .

Also available in English : “Protect and Plunder” ; Zed Books publishing.

Year of publication: 2003, 332 pages

Water has become a major political and geostrategic issue that is discussed in global summits and alternative forums. In fact, this vital resource controls the development of human societies. For some people, it is an ordinary good that should generate profits. For others, it is a common good of humanity with an exceptional symbolic weight in all cultures and all religions. Does water have a price? Is water a right or a need? Is there enough water for everyone despite demographic growth? Is there a water crisis? Will there be water wars tomorrow? Will technical solutions be enough to keep water pollution in check? This work shows that the management and uses of water pose essential questions to people on their way of living, their ethics and their relationship with nature and with the biosphere. It pleads for a water-efficient society and for global, united water management.

Year of publication: 2003,
240 pages

Face reality. Though long-promised and laboured for, Third World Development will not now come. The necessary investment is unavailable. Modern technology will not give work to the swelling tens of millions in the cities of the South. And the environment cannot tolerate further industrialization. Instead states are collapsing into “Ungovernable Chaotic Entities” under the control of warlords and mafias. State-driven, communist and neoliberal development models have all failed most of the people.

Year of publication: 2003, 244 pages

Foreign aid has existed for fifty years. Billions are spent each year. Tens of thousands employed. The purpose is ostensibly selfless and benign. And some Third World countries depend on it to a remarkable extent. Yet as this introduction shows, it is hardly without controversy. Does money actually flow to the South once collapsing prices for Third World exports, past debts, repatriated profits and corruption have been accounted for? How much aid, anyway, should there be?...

Translated from English. Original title : “Give and Take”, Zed Books Publishing.

Year of publication: 2003, 332 pages

“Fate would have it that from a certain moment of my life, I would become a bearer of two languages, Chinese and French. Was this solely due to fate? Or did a dose of deliberate will enter into it after all? Regardless, I took up the challenge by assuming, in my own manner, both languages, all the way to the extreme consequences. Two complex languages, commonly considered ‘major’, so rich in history and culture. And above all, two such fundamentally different languages separated by the largest chasm imaginable.
Nothing surprising in what since then, at the heart of my linguistic adventure oriented toward love for an adopted language, has become a major theme: dialogue...”
F.C.

Year of publication: 2002

If we are to believe the major myths and tales, travel is part of the human adventure. Whether man embarks for good or toward a promised land (Abraham or Moses), experiences numerous tribulations before returning to his point of origin (Ulysses), takes to the road to seek wisdom through multiple encounters (Buddha) or goes off to discover terra incognita (Christopher Columbus or Marco Polo), he enriches his perception of the world.
In an era when travel is part of our daily life, Wang Yipei, writer and specialist in Western literature, very sensibly evokes the Chinese approach in which the themes of internal exile and migrations are omnipresent. Olivier Bleys, a young novelist and traveler, offers his Western perspective on the theme of travel through literature and the history of civilizations.

Year of publication: 2002

Is George W. Bush responsible for America’s international isolation?

Why did the United States declare ’war on terror’, and what does this war mean for the future of the world?

Another American Century answers these questions with a sweeping and penetrating study of the United States since the end of the Cold War. Nicholas Guyatt reveals the economic, diplomatic and military dimensions of American foreign policy, and investigates what Americans say and believe about their relationship with the rest of the world. A major new chapter discusses September 11^th, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the motives and ideas behind America’s ’war on terror’.

Available in English: “Another American century?” ; Zed Books Publishing

Year of publication: 2004

With the collaboration of Jean LIBERMAN

The decoding of the new terrorism, which hit the USA with full force for the first time, shows that it is inseparable from the transformation of the world and the establishment of a type of global power that is more inhuman than ever. In effect, the worldwide neoliberal economic policy implemented by the financial sphere has completely distorted the human promises of globalization. Misery, mass exclusion and humiliation are the counterpart of the accelerated commoditization of a growing proportion of human activities. Kamikaze fanaticism, bred among destitute peoples, cannot be separated from the financialization of the world, its network-based information-sharing and its “dirty money” financing that is built into the system.

Ignoring this diagnosis, the neo-liberal leadership, in particular the United States, still refuses to take the well-known measures that would drain the breeding ground of hyperterrorist barbarity.

As the fallout from the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) continues, John Madeley explores some key questions about the free trade that it advocates: Will free trade in food help or hinder the abolition of world hunger? Who benefits first? The poor? Or the transnational corporations? Will free trade help Third World farmers find new international markets? How can countries – North and South, rich and poor – protect their farmers?...

In English: “Hungry for Trade”, Zed Books Publishers

Year of publication: 2002

Nathalie COOREN (French-Spanish)

Nathalie Cooren has a background in law (Master of Laws with a specialisation in European and international law) and in social sciences (Master in sociology of conflicts). After working several years in the field of international relations, where translation was an integral part of her daily life, she decided to make it her full-time job.
Several years spent abroad, particularly in Latin America, also made her aware of the importance of languages and the diversity of cultures. She translates from Spanish and English into French, for documents in the legal, institutional, political, environmental, tourism, marketing, and publishing fields, as well as books (see in particular "Guide du municipalisme : pour une ville citoyenne apaisée, ouverte”).

Danielle CHARONNET (French-Spanish)

Rachel MATTEAU MATSHA (French-English)

Rachel Matteau Matsha is senior lecturer at the Durban University of Technology (South Africa). Her research interests include book history, sociology of literature, Indian Ocean studies, and postcolonial studies. Born in Québec (Canada), she holds a BA in Literary Studies from the Université du Québec à Montréal, and a MA and PhD in African Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (South Africa). She is the author of Real and Imagined Readers. Reading, publishing and censorship under apartheid (UKZN Press, forthcoming 2018). She is collaborating with the International Alliance of independent publishers since 2013.

Volunteers come from time to time to support the permanent team of the Alliance for the implementation of the action plan of the association: we thank them very much for their involvement and their commitment!

Céline ANFOSSI
Céline Anfossi is specialised in project management and consultancy. She has worked in the book sector, mainly in coaching professionals (International Alliance of independent publishers, Fill-Interregional Federation of Books and Reading). She explores these issues through different projects and audiences (women seeking employment, students) and is particularly interested in the topic of professional integration.

Djamilatou DIALLO

Born in Tahiti, of Franco-Guinean parents, Djamilatou continued her studies in Paris in Lettres et Histoire (MA dissertation on Ancient History: “Patrons of cities in Roman Africa from the third to the fifth century: an epigraphic study”).
In the long term, Jamilatou would like to specialise in the protection and enhancement of heritage by working with different cultural organisations here or elsewhere.
Following a five-month internship at the Alliance (development of the 2018 WomenList and the HotList presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the study on the textbook market in French-speaking Africa), Djamilatou is now a volunteer of the Association.

The ICIP includes the coordinators of the Alliance’s language networks; they are nominated by the members of the networks. Since 2011, the ICIP has been an essential part of governing the Alliance, representing the voice of the publishers. The ICIP meets once a year in the presence of the Board and the team of the Alliance. The agenda is based on the aspirations and objectives of the Alliance, considering above all the needs and expectations of the members.

Composition of the ICIP:

• Coordinator of the Arabic-language network: Samar Haddad, Syria (Atlas Publishing)

• Coordinators of the English-language network: Ronny Agustinus, Indonesia (Marjin Kiri) and Colleen Higgs, South Africa (Modjaji Books)

• Coordinators of the French-language network: Yasmin Issaka-Coubageat, Togo (Graines de Pensées); Dieulermesson Petit Frère, Haiti (LEGS ÉDITION) and Marie Michèle Razafintsalama, Madagascar (Jeunes malgaches)

• Coordinator of the Persian-language network: Azadeh Parsapour, UK/Iran (Nogaam)

• Coordinators of the Portuguese-language network: Carla Oliveira, Portugal (Orfeu Negro) and Sandra Tamele, Mozambique (Trinta Zero Nove)

• Coordinator of the Spanish-language network: Francisca Muñoz Méndez, Chile (Editoriales de Chile)

Click here to see the list of Alliance member publishers.