Taking place for the first time in the Fifth Settlement, the just launched 50th Cairo International Book Fair is hoping to set a new world record for visitor numbers, with extra days added to the usually 12-day event. According to Egypt Today, Haitham al-Haj, chairman of the General Egyptian Book Organization. expects the extra days to Read More …
Given the Jeddah International Book Fair ran from December 26 through January 5, we can only attribute five days worth of the 475,000 visitors to the 2019 book fair count, but even so we’re looking at about a quarter million booklovers descending on an Arab book fair so far in 2019, and we’re still less Read More …
The International Publishers Association Seminar on Sustainable Development for African Publishers 2019 will be hosted in Nairobi on June 14-15 with the theme “Realising Africa’s Potential as a Global Publishing Leader in the 21st Century.” James Murua has the scoop on this story, so I defer first to the James Murua African Literature Blog for Read More …
Ghana’s inaugural Accra Book Festival last Year (not to be confused with the Ghana International Book Fair) was an unqualified success last year, and plans for the 2019 edition are underway. The 2nd Accra Book Festival will be formally launched on August 10 and the event itself will run for four days over October 24-27. Read More …
Unusually we Start the Day Global today in Michigan, USA, where this delightful story caught my eye over at Publishers Weekly. Girls of the Crescent: Teen Sisters Promote Stories of Muslim Girls When sisters Mena and Zena Nasiri, both avid teen readers, noticed a dearth of YA books featuring Muslim females like themselves, they took Read More …
Cultural appropriation, while not new, is a rising theme in a modern world that is connected in a way impossible to imagine even ten years ago, and with it comes an acceleration in examples of perceived and actual cultural appropriation as well as examples of extreme reactions to this appropriation. Back in August this year Read More …
At the best of times the logistics of setting up the world’s biggest book fair are problematic. Accommodating over four million eager booklovers over fourteen days is a challenge no other book fair on the planet has to face. And yes, we are talking Cairo, Egypt, in Afraica, which in defiance of the widely held Read More …
The Accra International Book Festival has announced its shortlist for two awards today: the 2018 First Book Award and the 2018 Independent Writers Award, with five female contenders and just one male making the finals. Unusually for an Africa-based award the prize is open to submissions from authors of any nationality, although submissions must be Read More …
RadioBook Rwanda is a collaboration between Rwanda’s Huza Press, Kenya’s Kwani Trust and the UK’s No Bindings that produces short stories by Rwandan writers in both print and digital podcast editions. James Murua explains that the first RadioBook Rwanda publications were seen at a recent launch, featuring one of the writers Annick La Reine Shimwa as Read More …
As this curation is posted it’s Christmas Day 2018. Whether you celebrate Christmas as a Christian, or as a fun Santa event for the children, or whether it’s just another working day, there’s no getting away from the fact that the story of Jesus Christ began in that part of the Middle East that now Read More …
Okay, Janet Museveni’s book My Life’s Journey may not have made quite the splash that Michelle Obama’s Becoming has made, but then, being the wife of the President of Uganda doesn’t come with quite the high profile that comes with being the wife of the former President of the United States. But that didn’t stop Read More …
The past seven days on TNPS – here’s what you missed. Dubai Audio Library “the largest Arabic audio library in the world” Dubai Audio Library “the largest Arabic audio library in the world” Self-published comic book to become Netflix series – Again Self-published comic book to become Netflix series – Again Saudi Arabia’s 4th Read More …
It all seemed so unlikely. Twin brothers in Nigeria, one an author, one a musician, decide to distribute their and other artists contents through a micro-aggregator called Publiseer. Only launched in Lagos in August 2017, twins Chidi and Chika Nwaogu have since expanded their operation to Kenya, Ghana and most recently South Africa. Now we Read More …
As with ebooks, so with audiobooks. While the big western digital book companies steer clear of the African continent bar a toe in the waters of South Africa, local talent is rising to fill the vacuum. Kenya’s eKitabu, Nigeria’s Publiseer and OkadaBooks… And in Ghana, AkooBooks Audio, which this week won a High Potential Innovation Read More …
It’s not even a year and a half since twins Chidi and Chika Nwaogu, one an author, the other a musician, launched Publiseer in their native Nigeria. Since then, as TNPS regulars will know, Publiseer has launched portals in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, all the time expanding its distribution outlets. Last month it was Read More …
A Swahili Literary Festival? Those who follow the African literary scene (or indeed follow TNPS) will be delighted, but not surprised, to learn this news. But many of us outside the continent or new to TNPS may be wondering what other literary surprises Africa has in store. It’s a reminder that there’s a big, wide Read More …
Earlier this year TNPS reported on a move by the Rwandan government to bring its educational publishing programme in-house, putting the future of local publishers at risk. African publishers pay the price for putting all their eggs in one basket Now South Africa looks set to follow suit. Zimasa Velaphi, chief director of communications and Read More …
Given the company’s name, Publiseer, from the Afrikaans word for “publish”, there was a logical inevitability that Publiseer would at some stage launch in South Africa. It just happened. South Africa joins Ghana and Kenya and home country Nigeria as Publiseer, the music and ebooks aggregator, continues on its mission to be a pan-African distributor. Read More …
It’s been a quiet week at TNPS for various reasons, but here’s what was covered this past seven days. Storytel confirms Brazil launch for 2019 as Mexico launch nears. Sharjah 2.23 million. Algiers 2.2 million. 4.4 million visitors to Arab book fairs in the past two weeks. The Arab Renaissance gathers momentum. The Arab Read More …
Largely ignored by the outside world, the Algerian book market is a vibrant one, full of promise. Earlier this month the Algiers International Book Fair wound up, having clocked a record-breaking 2.2 million visitors. Now a survey confirms keen book interest among Algerians, with Arabic, French and English language titles leading the way. 68% of Read More …
