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African book publishing is in a rare moment of transformation, according to a new report.
It’s an industry that has historically survived at the mercy of multinational publishing houses and donor funding.
These arrangements, subject to the dictates of capitalism or aid, have not been sustainable.
A newly published British Council study concludes that a new generation of African readers and writers has been disrupting traditional publishing.
They are using new technologies and social media, holding public events, promoting indigenous languages and changing consumer behaviour through savvy self-publishing methods. But the report is only a snapshot covering a small fraction of the continent.
Unfortunately, the survey – Publishing Futures: A Study of the Publishing Landscapes in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe – does not offer much data.
It mainly relies on anecdotal evidence gleaned from a mix of document analysis and in-depth interviews with industry experts – publishers, booksellers, writers and scholars, among others.
It’s not easy to make sense of the African publishing industry without statistics. So we’re never quite sure about the state of publishing in the six countries in the study.
There are marked differences in each because of variables like the state of politics, the economy and internet or technology infrastructure.
The report nonetheless offers positive insights on homegrown interventions creating “publishing futures” that are responsive to their local environments.
Despite many challenges, all sorts of marvellous things have happened for African literature since the beginning of the 2000s.
African writers have won or been shortlisted for some of the world’s most prestigious awards, including the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize.
But the confounding reality is that much of that success has been shaped and produced away from the continent, particularly in the Euro-American world.
As a scholar of African literary cultures, I investigate the challenges and developments in publishing, which has largely been in a state of disorder.
Local publishing houses are often forced to close for economic and political reasons. But we learn from this report that new systems are taking shape for a community of readers and writers who have had to take the initiative.
By owning the means of production, or taking charge of the process, the tenor of what African stories are told will change and upend long-running stereotypes.
Digital trends
According to the report, much of the innovation taking place in African publishing is driven by necessity.
There’s a need to bypass old systems of distribution and logistics that don’t match the needs of young people.
And these systems were mainly built to feed mass education systems sponsored by the United Nations and less for producing books for pleasure.
As a result, self-publishing has been gaining traction for a generation that does not need to seek approval to express themselves imaginatively.
Even though the infrastructures for online shopping aren’t fully established to support ebooks and online marketing, young people have been ingeniously using digital platforms such as WhatsApp to market and distribute books.
Other popular trends include Tiktok’s #Booktok, public groups on Facebook and Instagram book reels.
Social media platforms have opened up new possibilities for local authors as they grow new reading publics.
Literary festivals, book clubs and crowdfunding
To read is to commune. This is clear from the vast number of literary festivals taking place across the continent and in the diaspora.
A proliferation of these popular local events establishes reading networks and communities that are transnational in profile.
Though the report does not talk much about book clubs, this is another way that young African readers socialise. Many take place online.
But even before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns there was a growing culture of African book clubs, mainly run by women. These take many forms and connect young readers from different countries.
Everything is up for change in this cultural zeitgeist. The real publishing is happening at the bottom.
While traditional publishing has always been a top down system, there’s a growing market for non-traditional publishing. Young writers are self-publishing in both print and digital forms.
African writers and publishers are also turning to crowdfunding to finance their projects. This innovative approach is enabling work that might not otherwise see the light of day.
Indigenous languages and children’s books
Writing in English is often seen as a gateway into the international literary circuit, but there has been a turn to indigenous languages.
The study reports a rising demand for children’s books in African indigenous languages. This highlights the importance of multilingualism in Africa’s literary future.
With a young population, a revitalisation of the continent’s publishing infrastructure can be an exciting development as young people start producing knowledge in their own image.
Until now, as Nigerian novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani writes, much of African literature was being filtered through the tastes of European and American publishers and editors, who often select works they judge to be historically significant, educational or prize worthy.
The newfound generational confidence discussed in the report challenges the many stereotypes of the nature and type of African stories being published.
