Ian Randle (born 7 July 1949) is a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n publisher. He is the founder of an eponymous independent publishing company whose main focus is on

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

readers. He has won awards including the

Prince Claus Award The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It receives an annual subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fund has presented the international Prince Claus Awards annually si ...

in 2012 and the 2019

Bocas Henry Swanzy Award The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is the Trinidad and Tobago literary festival that takes place annually during the last weekend of April in Port of Spain. Inaugurated in 2011, it is the first major literary festival in the southern Caribbean and largest lit ...

for distinguished service to Caribbean letter.

Life

Randle was born in Green Island,

Hanover Parish Hanover is a parish located on the northwestern tip of the island of Jamaica. It is a part of the county of Cornwall, bordered by St. James in the east and Westmoreland in the south. With the exception of Kingston, it is the smallest parish ...

in 1949, the eldest of his parents' three boys and two girls. He studied for a Special Honours degree in history at the Mona campus of the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

, Jamaica, and later for an MSc in international politics at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

UK on a Commonwealth scholarship. After his academic study he worked many years for British publishers until he set up his own firm, Ian Randle Publishers (IRP), in 1990. This start made him the first English-language publisher of scholarly books in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, publishing books on and about the region since 1991. Later, his firm became a model for particularly the

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 ...

n book scene.Prince Claus Fund (June 2012)
''Report from the 2012 Prince Claus Awards Committee''
Ellington, Barbara (10 October 2005)

''Jamaica Gleaner''.Campbell, Howard (18 September 2011

''Jamaica Gleaner''.

Ian Randle Publishers

At first Randle focused on

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and the

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s, which allowed young academics to publish their findings locally. As a result, the region became less dependent on writers from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the colonizer of Jamaica until 1962. In later years Randle expanded the range of books to include biography, culture, cookery, and sports, while producing texts for undergraduate-level students and the upper levels of the Caribbean secondary school system. His list contains the most comprehensive offerings on the

Regional Integration Movement The Regional Integration Movement (''Movimiento Integración Regional'') is a political party in Colombia. At the last legislative elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an indivi ...

and on the

Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote econom ...

(CARICOM). His published list contains over 350 printed titles and some electronic editions. The direction of the firm is now in the hands of Randle's daughter Christine, while he himself has continued in fields such as marketing, public relations and consultancy. In 2000 Randle helped establish the Caribbean Publishers Network (CAPNET) and became its first president, serving for two two-year terms, during which he established links with the international publishing community and with publishers in Africa through the sister organization APNET. During this period Randle contributed regularly to the University of Denver Publishing Institute delivering the annual lecture on international publishing and presenting papers in a variety of international publishing and education fora.

Recognition

His pioneering work was recognized by the government of Jamaica when he was conferred with the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...

in 2002. In 2012 Randle was honoured with a

from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

for his contribution to Caribbean intellectual property and for championing independent local publishing and self-representation in other post-colonial contexts. Earlier that year, the Caribbean magazine ''Tallawah'' included him on the list of most influential Jamaicans. In 2013 he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, for his contribution to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and the Caribbean. In the same year, he received the Trailblazers Award from the Book Industry Association of Jamaica. In March 2019 Randle was announced as the recipient of the

, which was presented on 5 May 2019 at the

NGC Bocas Lit Fest The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is the Trinidad and Tobago literary festival that takes place annually during the last weekend of April in Port of Spain. Inaugurated in 2011, it is the first major literary festival in the southern Caribbean and largest lit ...

."2019 Bocas Henry Swanzy Award"
NGC Bocas Lit Fest, 5 May 2019.

References

External links

Ian Randle Publishers official website

"2012 Prince Claus Laureate Ian Randle (Jamaica)"
YouTube.
"Ian Randle founder of Ian Randle Publishers"
AALBC.com, 27 March 2016 YouTube video. {{DEFAULTSORT:Randle, Ian Jamaican businesspeople Publishers (people) Living people 1949 births People from Hanover Parish Recipients of the Order of Distinction 20th-century publishers (people)