Like in many Arab countries, literacy rates in Morocco are not among the highest in the world, but for Moroccans who do read the challenge is finding books they want at prices they can afford. When bookstores are few and far between and offer a limited choice of books at expensive prices it’s not surprising Read More …
Oops! Twitter uses Microsoft for its translations. But Microsoft can’t tell the difference between Indonesian, widely spoken in Indonesia, SE Asia, and Sesotho, widely spoken in southern Africa, 6,000 miles away. Thankfully the Gaborone Book Festival in Botswana is also in English. That’s September 21-22. Follow the Gaborone Book Festival on twitter: @Gabsbookfest #GBF18 Follow Read More …
The global publishing market has never been more exciting, and every day myriad publishing stories cross my screen that I’d love to develop here at TNPS, but there simply isn’t time. They do make the TNPS twitter feed. Follow TNPS on twitter here: @thenewpubstd. But twitter is an ephemeral beast. Blink and you miss it. Still, Read More …
Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. UK’s Bradford Lit Fest and USA’s Washington National Book Fest see record attendance Sharjah Publishing City sponsors Nigerian literature award Ireland: “A buoyant time for publishing. One of today’s most vibrant book markets.” Sweden-based Arabic-language audiobook firm Kitab Sawti attracts new investment Peru exempts Read More …
As the build up to this year’s Ghana International Book Fair got underway last month is seemed optimism was the prevailing mood, with talk of how Accra might become a regional hub for Africa’s nascent publishing industry. The 2018 theme was “Revitalising the Book Chain for National and International Cooperation.” But reality took hold as Read More …
We’re just a few weeks shy of the first anniversary of The New Publishing Standard, and if I had to identify one regret at how things have progressed this past eleven months it would be that I’ve not had the time to pursue and develop the many smaller and quirkier international publishing stories that have Read More …
The third edition of Nigeria’s Channel Book Club Literature Prize is being sponsored by the UAE’s Sharjah Publishing City. The Sharjah Publishing City, part of the Sharjah Book Authority’s mandate to promote a global reading culture, aims to raise awareness of the SPC in Africa and to introduce African authors and publishers to the UAE, Read More …
Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. Book reading down slightly in New Zealand. More than half read NZ authors Storytel Brazil 2019 launch whispers grows louder Spanish book market valued at minimum $2.7 billion. Paperback and ebook sales both rising Côte d’Ivoire: francophone Africa publishing insights Is Amazon preparing a Read More …
The Oceanos 2018 Portuguese Language Literature Awards semi-finalists were announced this past week, but it’s not a full representation of the Portuguese-speaking world, with semi-finalist only from from Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique and Cape Verde. The Oceanos finalists will be announced late October, but the semi-finalist line up. for the first time since the award launched in Read More …
The Ivory Coast, or Côte d’Ivoire as it is known at home, has a population of 24 million but despite being a wealthy nation by African standards it is blighted by an illiteracy rate (56.2%) successive governments have failed to address. It doesn’t help that there are 70 languages in the country. A report by Read More …
