Abstract
Amongst scholars of African literature, there is growing acknowledgement of the fundamental ways in which patterns in the publishing industry shapes literary study itself. Since the early 2000s, many important texts have appeared in which serious attention is paid to what we might call the ‘material life’ of the book, and to publishing in particular. This paper follows the growing interest in the material and pragmatic aspects of the production of literature, to argue for a focus on the concepts of fair trade, bibliodiversity, and sustainability in publishing. None of these three concepts represents a solution in itself, yet each raises questions that resonate both for professionals in the book trade and for scholars of francophone African literature, particularly in the complex and sometimes uneasy relationships between aesthetics and ethics, culture and commerce, and ‘francophonie’ and freedom of expression. We examine book publishing in two ‘francophone’ West African countries where large French multinationals such as Hachette have long posed a serious challenge to independent publishers. The dominant position of Paris-based publishers may be attributed to what Elie Kedourie once called “the imperialism of the free market”; and reasons for such dominance in the context of book publishing – economic, institutional, political and social – have been examined before (for example, in the late 20th century in UNESCO reports, the Bellagio studies, and the ZIBF Indaba). Yet while the debate has moved on, the French publishers have not.
Presenters
Audrey Holdhus SmallLecturer, Francophone Studies, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Print, Bibliodiversity, Guinea, Senegal, Fair Trade
