Bibi Bakare-Yusuf Hon.

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(born 1970) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

academic, writer and editor from

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria. She co-founder the publishing company

Cassava Republic Press Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf,

in 2006, in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

with Jeremy Weate. Cassava Republic Press was created with a focus on affordability, the need to find and develop local talent, and to publish African writers too often celebrated only in Europe and America. Bakare-Yusuf was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

in 2019, as well as having been selected as a

Yale World Fellow Yale World Fellows is an international fellowship program at Yale University for rising global leaders. World Fellows come from around the world and from diverse disciplines. They are selected through a competitive application process. Each year ...

, a Desmond Tutu Fellow and a Frankfurt Book Fair Fellow.

Early life and education

Bibi Bakare-Yusuf was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but moved to England when she was 13 years old. She attended Goldsmith College, University of London, where she studied Communication and Anthropology, and gained a PhD in

Gender Studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

from the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

Career and creation of Cassava Republic Press

In 2006, Bakare-Yusuf — who at the time was an academic in the UK and Nigeria — set up a company with Jeremy Weate to produce high-quality African literature at a price that would enable it to be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. They had no business or publishing experience, "just passion and a desire to see African stories written and owned by Africans. Inspirational figures in publishing such as

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

, co-founder of

Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

, were our guide", as Bakare-Yusuf has recalled:

"When I moved to Nigeria as an academic, there were all these interesting African writers being published abroad, and they’re not available locally.... So I decided, ‘okay, I’m going to start a publishing company’. Cassava Republic Press. I knew nothing, nothing nothing nothing, about publishing! I knew everything about reading and writing, but nothing about the business of publishing. 150 million people. 77 million of them young people under 30. How do we get those people reading? Those are the people I’m actually interested in converting. We want to convert minds. We want to convert them to question who they are, and also question society."Jennifer
"A Renewed Interest in Literature from Africa: Trailblazer Cassava Republic Press to Launch in the United Kingdom"
''Books Live'', 25 November 2015.

Explaining the company's name, she says: "

Cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...

is a relatively affordable but nutritious food crop found across West Africa and in the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

. I wanted a publishing house that will connect Africa to itself and its diaspora and vice versa. The idea of a Republic implies the end of a monarchy and a fresh start.... The strapline or slogan for the company is 'Feeding the African Imagination', which fits nicely with our brand name."Sumaila Umaisha
"Rebuilding the reading and writing culture (interview)"
''Everythin Literature'', 17 May 2008. Bakare-Yusuf emphasises the need for Africans to be instrumental in publishing as well as writing books: "We started Cassava Republic Press because we wanted Africans to own the means of production, to be in charge of the storytelling and not just writing the stories but to own the facilities and the infrastructure for telling the stories." Headquartered in

, Nigeria, Cassava Republic has built a reputation primarily for literary fiction (with authors including winners of the

Caine Prize The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

and

Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

) but also for fiction in other genres, such as crime. In addition, the list includes books for children and young adults, and several titles have been on Nigeria's national curriculum. Among notable authors published by the company are

Sarah Ladipo Manyika Sarah Ladipo Manyika is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is author of two well received nove ...

Lola Shoneyin Lola Shoneyin (born Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin; 26 February 1974 in Ibadan, Nigeria) is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, ''The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives'', in the UK in May 2010. Shoneyin has forged a r ...

Teju Cole Teju Cole (born June 27, 1975) is a Nigerian-American writer, photographer, and art historian. He is the author of a novella ''Every Day Is for the Thief'' (2007), a novel ''Open City'' (2011), an essay collection ''Known and Strange Things'' (20 ...

Helon Habila Helon Habila Ngalabak (born November 1967) is a Nigerian novelist and poet, whose writing has won many prizes, including the Caine Prize in 2001. He worked as a lecturer and journalist in Nigeria before moving in 2002 to England, where he was a C ...

Elnathan John Elnathan John (born 1982) is a Nigerian novelist, satirist and lawyer whose stories have twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Career Elnathan John was born in Kaduna, in north-west Nigeria, in 1982. He attended Ahmad ...

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani Adaobi Tricia Obinne Nwaubani is a Nigerian novelist, humorist, essayist and journalist, who was born in 1976. Her debut novel, ''I Do Not Come To You By Chance'', won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Africa), a Bett ...

Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ (born 1971) is a Kenyan American poet, author, and academic. He is associate professor of literatures in English at Cornell University and co-founder of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Writing. His father is the au ...

Chigozie Obioma Chigozie Obioma (born 1986) is a Nigerian writer. He is best known for writing the novels ''The Fishermen'' (2015) and ''An Orchestra of Minorities'' (2019), both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize in their respective years of public ...

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (born 1979) is a Nigerian writer and journalist. He was described by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle as a northern Nigerian "literary provocateur" amidst the international acclaim his award-winning novel ''Season of Crims ...

Christie Watson Christie Watson (born 1976) is a British writer and retired nurse. Her first novel, ''Tiny Sunbirds Far Away'', won the Costa First Novel Award in the 2011 Costa Book Awards. Her second novel ''Where Women Are Kings'' also won critical praise. ...

, John Collins,

Sade Adeniran Sade Adeniran (born 1960s) is a Nigerian novelist whose debut novel, ''Imagine This'', won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in Africa. ''Imagine This'' was originally Self-publishing, self-published by the author. Based in ...

Toni Kan Anthony Kan Onwordi known as Toni Kan (born 11 June 1971) is a Nigerian writer, editor, public relations senior management executive, and teacher. He is author of the collection of short stories, ''Nights of a Creaking Bed'', noted for exploring ...

Doreen Baingana Doreen Baingana (born 1966) is a Ugandan writer and literary arts manager. Her short story collection, ''Tropical Fish,'' won the Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa Region ...

, and others. In 2014, an associated imprint called Ankara Press was launched, with titles available in digital form as e-books, aiming to publish "a new kind of romance" that challenges conventional stereotypes, reflecting the lives and aspirations of modern African women and men: "We want scenarios that discard dangerous notions of male dominance, control and manipulation. Above all, we want writers who will allow African women to see the best version of themselves in print." Founder Bakare-Yusuf has said: "I felt that our ideas about African literature needed to be more diverse.... We don’t think of African literature in terms of

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

. Yet, genre fiction is the mainstay of many publishing houses all over the world." In November 2016, Bakare-Yusuf started a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERS), working to improve and protect

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

on minorities in Nigeria and West Africa.

Honours

* In December 2018, literary blog ''

Brittle Paper ''Brittle Paper'' is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral ...

'' chose Bibi Bakare-Yusuf as African Literary Person of the Year, an award that "recognizes individuals who work behind the scenes to hold up the African literary establishment in the given year". *Bakare-Yusuf was selected to give the keynote address at the third ''Abantu Book'' Festival in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

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 ...

, in 2018. * In 2019, Bakare-Yusuf was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

. * In 2020, Bakare-Yusuf won the ASAUK "Distinguished Africanist" award, which pays tribute to people who have made exceptional contributions to the field of African studies.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakare-Yusuf, Bibi Living people 1970 births 21st-century Nigerian women writers Nigerian women academics Nigerian anthropologists Nigerian women educators Nigerian women activists Nigerian women anthropologists Nigerian women business executives 20th-century births Nigerian women's rights activists People from Lagos Nigerian women company founders Nigerian people in arts occupations Nigerian publishers (people) Book publishers (people)