The African Publishers Network (APNET) is a
pan-African
Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...
,
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
, collaborative
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
that exists to connect
African publishing associations in order to exchange information and promote and strengthen indigenous publishing.
Introduction
Prior to the foundation o
APNETin 1992,
publishers in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
had difficulty sharing information and learning from one another’s experiences. There was no publicly-accessible database containing the addresses of libraries, bookshops or fellow publishers, and there was no networking structure connecting the agencies.
After several conferences and seminars focused on solving problems within the African book trade, it was considered necessary to set up an umbrella body which would be a network of publishers in Africa. In 1992, delegates from nine countries founded the African Publishers Network at a conference in
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
,
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
. Headquarters were located in
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
,
Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
, with a research and documentation centre in
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
. However, due to the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire, APNET's headquarters was moved to
Accra
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
.
APNET has evolved to become a diverse network representing most regions across Africa. It lists 41 national publishers associations as members. The governance of APNET consists of four key parts which are interdependent: the General Council represents the totality of African members and meets once a year; the board is representative of
Anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
,
Francophone
French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...
, and
Lusophone
Lusophones ( pt, Lusófonos) are ethnic group, peoples that speak Portuguese language, Portuguese as a native language, native or as common second language and nations where Portuguese features prominently in society. Comprising an estimated 270 m ...
Africa and is the executive arm of the council; the Secretariat, which consists of Executive Secretary and Administrative Officer, manages the daily concerns of APNET and aims to ensure it runs smoothly. The Secretariat also conducts unctions such as organizing training workshops, conferences and fundraising; the project committees oversee pertinent activities such as fulfilling research opportunities.
In addition, membership to APNET consists of four levels: full membership (granted to national publishing associations); founding membership (among the publishers from the nine countries that started APNET); affiliate membership (for those interested in the work of APNET – booksellers, editors, printers, designers, etc.); and associate membership for those with “an outstanding record of service to African publishing”.
Accomplishments
APNET can claim many concrete achievements since its formation; in general, as an evaluation of APNET states: “The formation and revitalization of many national publishers associations are a direct result of APNET’s networking activities, most consistently through person-to-person contact and the publication of the ''African Publishing Review''”.
The ''African Publishing Review'' ''(APR)'' is a bi-monthly newsletter sent out to publishers’ associations, book development councils, libraries, etc., and other subscribers. For publishers in Africa, the ''APR'' is free of charge; however, other subscribers must pay a small fee. The ''
African Publishing Review'' is the only pan-African publishing journal published in Africa with news, analysis, and in-depth perspectives of African Publishing. A survey was conducted and it showed that the ''APR'' is the “second most important source of information”
to publishers after the national publishers associations. A survey by SIDA showed that the APR is the most frequently used form of APNET service. APNET has produced six other publications, including ''The Story of APNET'', ''The Development Directory of Indigenous Publishing'', ''African “Rights” Indaba'', ''APNET Children’s Books Catalogue'', the ''Catalogue of Agricultural Books Published in Africa'', and ''Towards an African Publishing Institute''.
The African universities lack programmes and classes for creating professional publishers: university training in this field is available only in
Kenya
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,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, and these courses fall short of what is required. Based on the curriculum that was developed for the institute, APNET has conducted over 30 workshops in 18 countries.
Other publications of APNET include a development directory which contains 70 entries on key African book-development organizational and professional bodies; essays and reports on publishing in Africa; a resource centre which is a source of published and unpublished research on publishing in Africa.
APNET was jointly responsible with the Kenya Publishers Association for organizing the 2023 Nairobi International Book Fair, at which a significant publishing rights initiative was launched. Publishing professionals from Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda conferred with counterparts from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA at the fair's Right Café on such topics as trading and translation rights.
Advocacy
APNET advocates for the African publishing industry through attending book fairs, both in Africa and internationally. APNET goes beyond attending and providing materials for the book fair; it enables other African exhibitors to attend through financial support. In addition, when a book fair is being organized in Africa, APNET offers its support by arranging its major meetings to occur during the dates of the event so that all will be in the area to attend.
Dialogue with the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
has proved to be a success for APNET. As the World Bank has reached a better understanding of APNET and dialogue has continued between the two, “APNET has been in a position to send out World Bank monthly operational summaries to the National Publishers Associations, which provides information and possible opportunities for publishers”
[Christensen, Lars P., and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa: An evaluation of Apnet'', Sweden: Sida, 1998.]
A trade and promotion programme is conducted through APNET, which allocates catalogues of African books and sources and disseminates orders to publishers.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
provided support for the KAWI project (also SAP KAWI project) to produce and illustrate popular science books for children in national and minority languages in Africa. African authors and illustrators were used to create the content which was translated into various languages.
Works cited
* Chakava, Henry, ''Publishing in Africa: One Man’s Perspective'', Nairobi: Bellagio Publishing Network, co-published with East African Educational Publishers Ltd, 1996.
* Christensen, Lars P., and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa: An evaluation of Apnet'', Sweden: Sida, 1998.
* Dekutsey, Woeli, ''The Story of APNET'', Harare: African Publishers Network, commissioned by UNESCO, 1995.
* Kotei, S, ''The Book Today in Africa'', France: UNESCO, 1981.
* Makotsi, Ruth, ''Expanding The Book Trade Across Africa: A Study of Current Barriers And Future Potential'', Harare: ADEA Working Group on Books and Learning Materials, 2000.
References
*www.Freewebs.com/africanpublishers/introduction.htm. African Publishers Network Website(Accessed April 14, 2007).
*www.Freewebs.com/africanpublishers/introduction.htm. African Publishers Network Website( Accessed April 14, 2007).
*Ruth Makotsi, ''Expanding the Book Trade across Africa: a study of current barriers and future potential'' (Harare: ADEA, 2000), 56.
*Woeli Dekutsey, ''The Story of APNET: a study of the origins, structure, activities and policy of the African Publishers Network'' (Harare: African Publishers Network, 1995), 6-7.
*Dekutsey, ''The Story of APNET'' (1995), 7.
*S. Kotei, ''The Book Today in Africa'' (France: UNESCO, 1981), 117 UNESCO Website. http://portal.unesco.org (accessed April 19, 2007).
*Kotei, ''The Book Today in Africa'' (1981), 118.
*Lars P. Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'', (Sweden: SIDA, 1998), vi.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 25.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 25.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 27.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), vii.
*Dekutsey, ''The Story of APNET'' (1995), 11.
*Dekutsey, ''The Story of APNET'' (1995), 13.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 41.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 45.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 34.
*Christensen and others, ''Strengthening Publishing in Africa'' (1998), 7.
*Makotsi, ''Expanding the Book Trade across Africa'' (2000), 57.
*Makotsi, ''Expanding the Book Trade across Africa'' (2000), 2.
*Kotei, ''The Book Today in Africa'' (1981), 72.
External links
African Publishers Network- official website
Former website as at July 2015
{{Authority control
Publishing organizations
International organizations based in Africa
African literature