The Alliance

“I wouldn’t have written the many books if I didn’t have publishers who were sensitive, publishers who had their own networks, publishers who worked with my philosophy of smallness is beautiful, smallness in self-organised form is largeness—it is largeness of mind, it is largeness of heart, it is largeness in terms of expanding the possibilities of humanity and the earth in a time where the dominant economy would like to shrink those possibilities.”

“If you were not as diverse as you are and if you did not publish the diversity of ideas that are necessary for our times not only would you as a publishing network not have the resilience and robustness that is needed, but wouldn’t be providing that amazing robustness to society in a period where, like monocultures are destroying the fertility of the soil and creating deserts (...)”

Read the speech by Vandana Shiva at the closing of the International Conference on Independent Publishers, Pamplona-Iruñea, 26 November 2021.

This speech is also available in audio on the Alliance’s Youtube channel.

“More than ever, the future of the book—namely its diversity and promotion of minority and alternative voices—rests on the shoulders of independent editors, who give life to the book’s cultural necessity through their commitment, convictions, and attachment to causes that break with the lone dictature of capitalism.”

“My third novel, Munyal ; les larmes de la patience (forthcoming in English translation in October 2022 as The Impatients), is now available in many Francophone African countries because of the Alliance’s ’Terres solidaires’ collection. Many African authors feature on that list, but the part that brings me the most pride is to have such a recognition from Sub-Saharan Africa, where I live and work. This is truly the spirit of diversity that is so dear to the Alliance, and what represents the values that we writers and editors must defend and promote. The Alliance plays such a fundamental role in this sense, mitigating as much as possible the issue of book distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Francophone countries.”

Read the speech by Djaïli Amadou Amal at the closing of the International Conference on Independent Publishers, Pamplona-Iruñea, 26 November 2021.

Translated from the French by Allison M. Charette.

This speech is also available in audio on the Alliance’s Youtube channel.

The Independent Publishing Glossary is a collective project led by publishers from the Spanish-language network of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers.

It shows the meanings and definitions of words commonly used in publishing. It is an evolving project, which will be enriched over time in order to include new concepts and to take into account other proposal for definitions. The idea is not to freeze or petrify the concepts, but to open them up to enhance their multiple meanings.

Each term is signed by the person who worked on the definition. The glossary was edited by Germán Gacio Baquiola (Corredor Sur Editorial, Ecuador / Colectivo Editores independientes de Ecuador), Teresa Gottlieb, (Editorial Maitri, Chile), Paulo Slachevsky (Lom Ediciones, Chile) and Miguel Villafuerte, (Editorial Blanca, Ecuador).

1/ The Alliance, a place for experimentation and reflection through the Bibliodiversity Observatory

• Continue the analyses, reflections and advocacy via the thematic working groups set up during the 2014 Conference and set up new working groups on the themes and issues discussed during the 2021 Conference
• Providing tools and documenting international independent publishing

2/ The Alliance, a space for collaboration and sharing

• Share practices and know-how (on regional, national or even international levels, depending on the needs expressed) between publishers
• Meet and strengthen the flow of exchanges

3/ The Alliance, a tool for promoting independent publishing and the circulation of books

• Encourage the visibility and promotion of independent publishing
• Promote the circulation of works and productions of independent publishing houses

4/ The Alliance, a laboratory of alternative editorial practices

• Pursue and strengthen solidarity-based publishing partnerships (transfer of rights, translations, co-publishing projects, etc.)
• Communicate and increase awareness

5/ The Alliance, an evolving governance and operation

• REthink
• Get involved

Gathered in the city of Pamplona-Iruñea from 23 to 26 November 2021 at the fourth International Conference of Independent Publishers, organised in partnership with EDITARGI (Association of Independent Publishers of Navarre), we, the publishers of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers (IAIP), reaffirm our commitment to:

• the cultural, social and political character of books and reading;
• the democratisation of books in our societies;
• reading as an emancipatory practice that strengthens the critical thinking of citizens and stakeholders within their society.

Read the full Declaration here:

This Declaration is in line with the discussions and work of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, in particular the Declarations of 2003, 2007 and 2014 and the 80 recommendations in favour of bibliodiversity. It will be complemented by a Guide to Good Practice (collective work in progress, for publication in the first half of 2022).

The round-table discussions of the Conference are available in replay on the Alliance’s YouTube channel.

Support bibliodiversity and independent publishing through a professional solidarity network

• Support the creation and strengthening of memberships to national and/or regional publisher collectives (including in Europe)
• Promote bibliodiversity, popularise the idea of bibliodiversity for the general public, for example through the (International Bibliodiversity Day on 21 September, )

Support the creation of national, regional and international book policies

• Create the Bibliodiversity Observatory: mapping of national book policies in Latin America, the Arab world, West Africa… and developing a bibliodiversity measurement tool
• Make independent publishers’ voice heard among public authorities (Ministries of Culture), international organisations (UNESCO, OIF, CERLALC, UEMOA, etc.), and book professionals and collectives: diffuse, promote and defend the International Declaration of independent publishers and the 80 recommendations in support of bibliodiversity

Reaffirm and defend freedom and equity of speech

• Create a censorship typology; draft advocacy plans in support of, and in solidary with, publishers

Strengthen collaborative spaces and innovate to respond to tomorrow’s changes and issues

• Develop the Digital Lab, organize workshops, and sharing of experiences and tools (on digital publishing, editorial solidarity partnerships, national and local languages publishing, etc.)
• Strengthen inter-professional collaboration (authors, librarians, booksellers, diffusers-distributors, digital actors, etc.): inter-professional meetings, joint lobbying

Reinstate equilibrium between book exporting countries and importing countries

• Manage an online resource centre, complementing the Bibliodiversity Observatory
• Modernize book donation practices: Book Donation Charter reviewed by professionals from the global South
• Participate in book fairs (collective stands in book fairs in both the global South and global North), promotion of books from the South in the North

Develop and strengthen intercultural sharing

• Develop and support copublishing/ translation projects: North-South and South-South editorial partnerships bearing the “Fair Trade Book” label, and research on economic solidarity models (social and solidarity economy)

Publishers collectively adopted the Alliance’s 2015-2018 objectives during the International Assembly of independent publishing (2012-2014). Projects and activities arise from each of these directions, and are implemented by the Alliance during the 2015-2018 period.

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.

During the closing meeting of the International Assembly of Independent Publishers (Cape Town, South Africa, September 18-21, 2014), 400 independent publishers from 45 countries signed the International Declaration of Independent Publishers 2014.
Collectively drafted in three languages, on September 20, 2014, the Declaration 2014 is available in several languages (French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Farsi, Italian, etc.).

Do not hesitate to share the Declaration and promote and strengthen bibliodiversity with us !

Read here the 80 recommendations & tools (on digital publishing, public book policies, youth literature, national and local languages publishing, solidarity publishing partnerships and “Fair Trade Books”, book donations).

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 first Conference workshops were held in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) in May 2019 during the International Book Fair of Abidjan, and brought together 40 French-speaking publishers, as well as representatives of the Portuguese and Arabic-speaking networks.

Here the video!

Youth literature and typography were the main focus of these workshops. A mapping of publishing public policies in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar (the Alliance’s flagship project since the last Conference of 2012-2014) was also presented on this occasion. The next workshops will most probably be held in Chile in September 2019, gathering mainly Latin American and Spanish publishers - a mapping of publishing public policies in Latin America will also be presented on this occasion.

The complete program of the International Conference 2019-2021 will be available in a few months!
For any questions, contact the Alliance’ team (equipe@alliance-editeurs.org).

For its 4^th edition, the Tehran Book Fair Uncensored will move in the following countries: United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, United States, Canada...

For the fourth year, Farsi publishers outside of Iran, organize the Uncensored Tehran Book Fair, all around the world. The goal is to provide an opportunity for the authors, whose works are censored in Iran, to speak out freely and present their works. Each year many authors and publishers in Europe, Canada, and the United States meet their readers and discuss the status of persian literature all around the world. This is an unique opportunity to know, support, and promote the uncensored persian literature.

More information here: https://uncensoredbook.com/

Two days of discussions, reflections and workshops to which will participate, amongst others, LOM Ediciones (Chile), En toutes lettres (Morocco), Metis Publishers (Turkey), Critique and Humanism (Bulgaria), Masarykova Univerzita (Czech Republic), éditions d’en bas (Switzerland), Sophie Noël (University Paris 13)… these sessions are organised by La Oveja Roja (member of the Alliance), in partnership with Contrabandos bookshop. Topics include book ecosystem, other forms of production, community of readers…
Consult the programme here!

The meeting will be followed by the second edition of the Political and Critical Books Fair.

On Saturday 30 March, 2019, it is the Indie Book Day!

Independent publishers and booksellers propose readers to celebrate Indie Book Day. The principle is simple: you just need to go in your favourite independent bookshop, to buy a book published by an independent publisher. Then, you are invited to share a picture of the book on the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…), with the hashtag #indiebookday.

Indie Book Day aims to highlight the creativity, diversity and dynamism of independent publishing and make readers aware of the essential aim played by independent bookshops in favour of bibliodiversity.

Indie Book Day website: www.indiebookday.de/english

To read here, the 2019 programme and an overview of the activities carried out in 2018.

En un mundo globalizado, las megacorporaciones editoriales solo se preocupan por los números, por lo semejante, por seguir fórmulas ya probadas en sus últimos éxitos de ventas. Se espera que cada libro pague su propia producción junto con las externalidades del proceso de publicación, tales como la infraestructura y el sueldo de los ceo. Bajo esa óptica, los libros que se demoran más en “despegar”, pero que poseen una larga vida y son capaces de cambiar las normas sociales, tienen menos probabilidades de publicarse.

Los editores independientes apuestan por una forma diferente de hacer las cosas. Buscan un compromiso distinto con la sociedad y se preocupan por reflejar el lugar y el espíritu de sus comunidades. “Bibliodiversidad” es un término creado por editores independientes en los años noventa para darle un nombre a esta forma diferente de pensar la edición. En este manifiesto, Susan Hawthorne nos ofrece una crítica mordaz a la industria editorial global, que contrapone a una propuesta visionaria para la publicación “orgánica”. En un contexto de predominio de las grandes corporaciones, Bibliodiversidad marca las diferencias entre los conceptos de libertad de expresión y de “discurso justo” y pone en perspectiva las promesas y los desafíos de la transición al mundo digital.

ISBN: 978-950-889-322-2 - 15 x 21 cm - 120 páginas

Bibliodiversidad, en francés
Bibliodiversidad, en árabe
Bibliodiversidad, en aléman

The ICIP meeting is a special occasion where the activities of the Alliance’s respective networks, upcoming projects, strategic issues and governance of the association are discussed.
It is a crucial annual meeting in the life of the Alliance, often decisive in terms of objectives and choices.
This year, new coordinators and vice-coordinators are joining the ICIP: we propose an “ICIP induction day”, enabling newcomers to understand its functioning and role.
This meeting will further provide an opportunity to examine decisions taken at the previous ICIP and analyse their impacts on the current governance of the Alliance and ahead of the future Assembly of the Alliance (2019-2021).
Finally, a meeting session will be focusing on cultural rights.

Have a look!
HotList and WomenList

In partnership with the Kurt Wolff Stiftung (collective of German independent publishers) and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Alliance presents two thematic selections on the “Reading Island for Independent Publishers” stand (Hall 4.1 / D36)!

• HotList: the energy of Latin American independent publishing through more than 30 books published in Argentina, Brazil, Equator, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela! The HotList is available online here!

• WomenList: more than 30 novels, short stories, essays and comics on feminism, women’s struggles, their emancipation across the world – these titles are from independent publishers’ lists from all continents. The WomenList’s books can be seen online.

Roundtables to attend!

• “African Children’s book publishing”: Christine Warugaba, Furaha Publishers (Rwanda), Sophie Batiskaf, Dodo Vole (Madagascar) and Corinne Fleury, Atelier des Nomades (Mauritius) / Wednesday 10 October, 10.00-11.00 / Reading Island for Independent Publishers (Hall 4.1 / D36)

• “Freedom of publishing”: Élodie Comtois (Écosociété, Quebec/Canada), Yasmin Issaka-Coubageat (Graines de Pensées, Togo), Carles Torner (Executive Director, Pen International), Anne-Marie Voisard (sociologist and author of Le droit du plus fort. Nos dommages, leurs intérêts, published by Écosociété and author of the on-going study on freedom to publish, coordinated by the Alliance) / Wednesday 10 October, 4.30-6.00 / Lettres d’Afrique (Hall 5.1 / B125)
  See all the programme of Lettres d’Afrique here!

For the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair, the Alliance is partnering with Lettres d’Afrique, BIEF, the Kurt Wolff Stiftung and the Frankfurt Book Fair; and would like to thank the organisations and people who have collaborated to the drafting of our programme (African Books Collective, Afrilivres, PEN International...).

More than 30 novels, short stories, essays and comics on feminism, women’s struggles, their emancipation across the world – these titles are from independent publishers’ lists from all continents.

There is a resurgence of the Women’s Movement following #MeToo and other events and a greater awareness of structural violence against women. Now is the time to know about books being published all around the world by independent publishers, in different languages and across a wide range of issues from the political to the imaginative.

To read through all the books of the WomenList is a reminder of just how much violence women have suffered – from rape, torture, and mass violence against women to indifference and neglect in the case of child abuse, to survival in war, sexual slavery and marriage forced by custom. But there is also resistance and optimism whether it be Pussy Riot or women rebelling against patriarchy as well as the inspiration of women in the vanguard of environmental projects or gathering together the works of women poets.

There are voices from so many places around the world – from Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, England, France, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Morocco, Mexico, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey... Languages include Arabic, English, Indonesian, Farsi, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish. Women write poetry, short stories, political tracts, novels, biography, graphic novels and again more. These are words that matter: women’s voices are loud. It is time to listen!

The WomenList is an initiative of the International Alliance of independent publishers, through a partnership with the Kurt Wolff Stiftung (collective of German Independent Publishers) and the Frankfurt Book Fair. The WomenList is presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair on the “Reading Island for Independent Publishers” stand (Hall 4.1 / D36) and is also available online, on the Alliance’ website. The catalog of the WomenList was made by Julie Agor (Oréka graphisme).

The WomenList was born in the wake of the HotList (selection of books published by independent Latin American publishing houses and presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2017 and 2018 – Hall 4.1 / D36).

Read here the article published by Publishing Perspectives, October, 5, 2018

In 2019, a new international selection will be showcased in Frankfurt, on another theme... succeeding the WomenList 2018!

Georges Lory was cultural advisor in South Africa from 1990 to 1994, and participated to the country’s democratic transition. Between 1998 and 2008, as Director of International Affairs of Radio France Internationale, he increased the number of its FM relays in the world from 76 to 169. From 2009 to 2013, he led the general delegation of the Alliance Française in Southern Africa.
He has written three volumes of poetry (including one in Afrikaans), edited a book published by Autrement on South Africa, translated poets including Breyten Breytenbach, Antjie Krog and Lebo Mashile, novels and short stories by Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Nobel Laureate, texts by JM Coetzee, André Brink and Kopano Matlwa, as well as the Dutch writer Adriaan van Dis. He is the author of four books, mainly on South Africa.

Hélène Kloeckner is the founder of Beau travail, which helps organisations improve their working conditions. She is the author of a survey on textbooks in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa, published in the Africultures journal in 2003. She has worked for more than twelve years in publishing, and collaborated with Nouvelles éditions africaines in Senegal, Dakar. As a volunteer at the Alliance since 2004, she has been particularly interested in the pan-African collection “Terres Solidaires” . She was the president of the Alliance between 2013 and 2020.

Treasurer of the Alliance, Annie Gogat works for the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation as Accounting Manager. Passionnate about integration issues and involved in her neighborhood’s school life, she finds herself naturally acting as a mediator in many situations. After spending years in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, she now lives in Bouffémont (Paris region). She was the treasurer of the Alliance between 2002 and 2020.

Born in 1946, after obtaining a degree from the Centre de Formation des Journalistes and a postgraduate qualification in political sociology, Gérard Aimé started his career as a journalist and photo-reporter in Canada. The co-founder of Alternatives publishing and co-author of its first publications, he ran the publishing house for 35 years until its takeover by Gallimard. Today he works as a consultant for various publishing houses. Gérard Aimé was a member of the Board of the Alliance between 2011 and 2016.

Marie Hatet has been working in the field of education and culture for the past fifteen years. Currently heading an artistic and cultural education project in Paris’ La Villette Park, she is also a member of the reading committee of the Tatoulu Association (youth literature), and founding member of Les Fondeurs de Roue Association. She joined the Board of the International Alliance of independent publishers in 2014. She served on the Board of the Alliance between 2014 and 2016 and is currently a member of the Alliance’s General Assembly.

From 2002 to 2009, Étienne GALLIAND (founder of the Alliance) managed the association. He then created Double Ponctuation, with which the Alliance regularly collaborates. Double Ponctuation is, among other things, copublisher of the Bibliodiversity journal.

Alexandre TIPHAGNE joined the Alliance from 2002 to 2007, as manager of co-editions and the Portuguese and Spanish languages networks. From December 2012 to April 2014, Alexandre was vice-chair of Cabinet in the Ministry of Culture and Communication and technical councillor responsible of the book, and later chair of Cabinet. Formerly a parliamentary collaborator of Aurélie Filippetti at the National Assembly, he is currently in charge of Culture at Paris City Council.

Thomas WEISS worked for the Alliance between 2003 and 2006 as a logistician, administrator and Webmaster. He also coordinated co-publishing projects of the English and Arabic languages networks. In 2007, he became an independent consultant and web developer, and worked principally for the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation, Exemole Sarl, and the Research Institute, and contributed to discussions on governance. In 2013, he joined the French IT group, Netapsys Conseil, as central director. He is currently a consultant at OCTO Technology.

Between 2008 and 2010, Nathalie CARRÉ contributed her expertise to “Terres solidaires” and “Terres d’écritures”, both solidary copublishings collections. Nathalie continued facilitating the reading committee of the “Terres solidaires” collection. She is currently a Swahili teacher at Inalco.

Sonbol REGNAULT-BAHMANYAR contributed to the Alliance between 2010 to 2012, by developing the Persian language publishers group. Sonbol is currently in Iran, where she runs a French pastry shop.

Matthieu JOULIN joined the Alliance’s team in 2011, after a master’s degree in Hispano-American Language, Literature and Civilisation at Bordeaux University and a master’s degree in Book Commercialisation at University of Paris 13-Villetaneuse. Between 2011 and 2019, Matthieu was especially in charge of the Digital Lab of the Alliance; and maintaining and supporting the Spanish and Portuguese language networks.

Clémence HEDDE worked for 10 years at the Alliance, between 2010 and 2020. After a double degree in Geography/ Book Trade in France and the United Kingdom, and experiences in different publishing houses (Autrement, La Découverte, Phaidon), Clémence Hedde was Programme Manager at the International Alliance of independent publishers, more specifically responsible for overseeing the Alliance’s French-language network and the children’s books/youth literature thematic group, coordinating international co-publishings, organisation of meetings and workshops, as well as monitoring the research initiatives of the Bibliodiversity Observatory. She is now Literary Coordinator at Ciclic, the regional Agency of the Center Val de Loire for books, images and digital culture.

Mariam PELLICER is a graduate from Sciences Politiques in Toulouse (specialising on the fight against discrimination and the struggle for equality), after an academic exchange at the University in Chile, stuying among other things, sociology of gender. Mariam’s early professional experiences were with the International Alliance of Women in Athens and then with the Fondation des Femmes in Paris.
Between 2020 and 2024, Mariam coordinated the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking networks, the Bibliodiversity Observatory and the Alliance’s advocacy unit.

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 and vice-coordinators of the Alliance’s language networks; the coordinators and vice-coordinators 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-speaking network: Samar Haddad, Syria (Atlas Publishing)

• Coordinator of the English-speaking network: Colleen Higgs, South Africa (Modjaji Books)
• Vice-coordinator of the English-speaking network : Ronny Agustinus, Indonesia (Marjin Kiri)

• Coordinator of the French-speaking network: Élisabeth Daldoul, Tunisia (elyzad)
• Vice-coordinators of the French-speaking network: Paulin Assem, Togo (AGO Média) and Jean-Claude Naba, Burkina Faso (Sankofa & Gurli)

• Coordinators of the Persian-speaking network: Azadeh Parsapour, UK/Iran (Nogaam) and Anahita Mehdipour, Germany/Iran (Forough Verlag)

• Coordinators of the Portuguese-speaking network: Mariana Warth, Brazil (Pallas Editora) and Carla Oliveira, Portugal (Orfeu Negro)

• Coordinators of the Spanish-speaking network : Germán Gacio Baquiola, Ecuador (Editores independientes de Ecuador) and Francisca Muñoz Méndez, Chile (Editoriales de Chile)

Click here to see the list of Alliance member publishers.