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.

The International Alliance of Independent Publishers organizes from 18 to 21 December 2010 a meeting on the digital publishing in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), in partnership with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

The English-language network next meeting will take place in Paris from 13th to 15th October 2010. Discussions about the network current and future projects (translation, co-publishing, book fairs, etc.) are planned.
Being in Paris will be an opportunity for the seven publishers (Spinifex in Australia, Jacana Media in South Africa, The New Press in the United States, Tulika and Women Unlimited in India and Zed Books in the United Kingdom) to meet French publishers (Actes Sud, La Fabrique...).

The Alliance language network coordinators will meet in Paris on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th of October 2010. This meeting represents one of the annual appointment of the governance of the association.
Two days of exchanges and debates between the coordinators and the members of the Board of the Alliance... discover the attached programme.

Language network coordinators :

* Nouri Abid, Tunisia (Med Ali), coordinator of the Arabic-language network ;

* Serge D. Kouam, Cameroon (Presses universitaires d’Afrique), coordinator of the French-language network ;

* Marc Favreau, United States (The New Press), coordinator of the English-language network ;

* Araken Gomes Ribeiro, Brazil (Contra Capa), coordinator of the Portuguese-language network ;

* Guido Indij, Argentina (la marca editora), coordinator of the Spanish-language network.

To meet the independent publishers of the Alliance in Frankfurt, download the document below.

To contact these publishers, before or after the Fair, do not hesitate to address directly the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

In 2010, the Prince Claus Foundation awards a prize to a publisher member of the Alliance. Indeed, the prestigious Prince Claus Award will next December pay tribute to Algeria’s Barzakh Publishing “for the way it gives concrete expression to Algerian voices, for having opened up a very necessary space for critical debates on Algerian realities, for having built a bridge between the different languages and cultures, and for having creatively dispelled the threat of the country’s cultural isolation”.

The Alliance expresses its warmest and most sincere congratulations to Selma Hellal, Sofiane Hadjadj and the whole team at Barzakh Publishing.

From 2010 International Bibliodiversity Day will be celebrated in several Latin American countries on 21 September each year. This day is deeply symbolic, representing Spring Day in the Southern hemisphere, in particular ; spring with its connotations of pleasant weather, diversity, contrasting colours, vigour, flowers in bloom, transitions, love, perfume, and new beginnings.

Even though this is an international day, it was important to note that this initiative originated in the South - in Latin America – and that it bears a concrete signicance. Indeed, in defending and promoting bibliodiversity, Latin American publishers reaffirm the necessity of rebalancing the direction in which books and ideas circulate and of achieving movement in other directions, from South to North, but also from South to South.

Watch the EldíaB 2010 videos !

More information on Bibliodiversity Day Blog : http://eldiab.org/

Comment l’Afrique peut-elle sortir de l’impasse ? À contre-courant, l’auteur montre que les Africains ont les cartes en mains pour assurer leur propre développement. Depuis les indépendances, le modèle de développement imposé à l’Afrique par l’Occident est un véritable échec. L’auteur dissèque les causes structurelles de cette faillite qui a entraîné les populations africaines dans une spirale de pauvreté et de violence. Il met en évidence les responsabilités occidentales sans occulter celles propres aux Africains eux-mêmes. Son analyse pluridimensionnelle propose ensuite un large éventail de solutions novatrices qui permettront aux Africains de prendre eux-mêmes en main leur propre développement. Avec une grande force de persuasion, Sanou Mbaye propose les réformes politiques, économiques et financières, les actions juridiques et le schéma de mobilisation des ressources qui peuvent assurer la véritable renaissance dont rêvent les populations de la région. Seule l’Afrique viendra à bout de ses propres maux et l’auteur nous emporte dans une lecture pleine d’espoir sur l’avenir du continent. Foncièrement panafricaniste, il est convaincu que la solidarité des peuples d’Afrique sera le terreau favorable à cette profonde mutation qui leur permettra de se réapproprier leur identité mise à mal par des siècles de domination et de se réaliser pleinement.

Sanou MBAYE, ancien haut fonctionnaire de la Banque africaine de développement, est un chroniqueur politique et économique. Ses écrits sur le développement des pays africains proposent des politiques alternatives à celles mises en place, en Afrique, par des Occidentaux et leurs bras alliés : le FMI et la Banque mondiale.

Date de publication : 2010, 222 pages, 11 X 18 cm

Première édition grand format : les éditions de l’Atelier, 2009

Passé les réactions vives et indignées qu’a suscitées chez les Africains le discours de Nicolas Sarkozy prononcé à Dakar le 26 juillet 2007, ses déclarations sur l’immobilisme du continent africain ou encore la non-responsabilité de la France dans ses problèmes actuels nécessitaient une riposte argumentée, dépouillée de toute considération émotive. C’est dans le but d’éclairer le président Sarkozy, mais aussi son entourage et, plus généralement, le grand public sur la réalité de l’histoire africaine, qu’Adame Ba Konaré a lancé, en septembre 2007, un appel remarqué à la communauté des historiens. Cet ouvrage est le résultat de cette mobilisation : 25 contributions de spécialistes de notoriété internationale ou de plus jeunes chercheurs, africains et européens, qui abordent chacun avec rigueur et précision un pan de l’histoire riche, complexe et méconnue du continent.

Date de publication de la version panafricaine : 2009, 350 pages, 15,5 X 24 cm

The 3rd meeting of Latin-American independent publishers’ collectives of the Alliance will occur with the support of the Departmental Book Chamber of La Paz and the French cultural services for the Andean cooperation during the 15th La Paz International Book Fair (Bolivia) – which will take place from August 18 to 29, 2010, under the slogan “Celebrate Bibliodiversity”.

Massively used by small publishing firms to distribute their products to bookstores, libraries, and readers, the postal service is the most popular means of circulating books throughout the world. However, the absence, suppression or questioning of special postage for books is an impediment to bibliodiversity in many countries.
In Latin America, with a huge territory to cover and limited circulation, a large share of publishers ensures the delivery of their products themselves. For these publishers, preferential postage rates for shipping books are all the more vital.

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.