{"id":5281,"date":"2024-10-20T00:01:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T00:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masobebooks.com\/ng\/?p=5281"},"modified":"2025-02-03T10:20:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T10:20:17","slug":"in-african-publishing-there-is-a-renaissance-going-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masobebooks.com\/ng\/in-african-publishing-there-is-a-renaissance-going-on\/","title":{"rendered":"In African Publishing, \u2018There Is a Renaissance Going On\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new ecosystem of publishers, bookstores, literary magazines and festivals is promoting African writers and changing the stories told about the region.<\/em><\/p>\n

For decades, there was one path to becoming a successful African writer: Getting a book deal in the publishing meccas of New York, London or Paris. But a radical shift is underway, transforming the region\u2019s literary landscape from within and opening up possibilities unimaginable to previous generations of writers.<\/p>\n

It all started more than two decades ago, when the Kwani? literary magazine in Kenya began publishing and connecting African writers under the guidance of the writer and editor Binyavanga Wainaina<\/a>. Then came publishers like Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, who started Cassava Republic Press<\/a> in Nigeria and began publishing African fiction and nonfiction and promoting locally the African writers who had gained acclaim in the West.<\/p>\n

Now, a robust publishing ecosystem has grown in the region: African writers and their agents are signing deals with African publishing houses. Those publishers are trading book rights and collaborating on everything from translation to the design of book covers. And those books are finding readers through new bookstores, literary magazines<\/a> and literary festivals that are fostering transnational reading communities and launching regional best sellers.<\/p>\n

The shift is growing the range of stories being told about Africa and greatly amplifying the work of African writers, according to interviews with over a dozen African writers, agents, publishers, festival directors and bookstore owners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe West is not discovering us. We are discovering us and then telling our stories and then saying to the West, \u2018Well, this is us,\u2019\u201d said Zukiswa Wanner, a South African writer whose latest novel, \u201cLove, Marry, Kill<\/a>,\u201d was published last year by publishers in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, and is being translated into Portuguese for publication in Brazil, too.<\/p>\n

The wealth and the variety of new possibilities for African writers were on display last summer during the opening night of the Doek Literary Festival in Namibia\u2019s capital, Windhoek. The biennial festival, founded in 2022, has become one of the most important literary gatherings in Africa. Over four days in August, young poets recited their works, seasoned authors discussed African crime novels, and literary figures from across the continent and the Black diaspora exchanged ideas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A new network of African-led literary spaces connect readers, writers and booksellers in the region and beyond.Credit…Brian Otieno for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The prolific Angolan writer and translator Ondjaki talked with Wanner and the Nigerian journalist and memoirist Chik\u00e9 Frankie Edozien. Maaza Mengiste<\/a>, the Ethiopian American writer, signed copies of her Booker-nominated book, \u201cThe Shadow King<\/a>.\u201d Half a dozen fans ringed Ishion Hutchinson<\/a>, the Jamaican poet whose collections have been received with enthusiasm across the continent.<\/p>\n

The festival is part of a network of new, African-led literary spaces connecting readers, writers and booksellers in the region and beyond, R\u00e9my Ngamije, the founder and director of Doek<\/a>, said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is what we want: Our spaces, our way, in our time, in our places, with us all around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The shift in publishing comes at a time when African fashion, music and film are also taking center stage globally<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the book industry, a new generation of publishers and agents is getting around foreign publishers entirely to put out books by local writers for local audiences in local markets, revolutionizing the way books are marketed and distributed. They are also diversifying their catalogs by championing writers from different linguistic, social, economic, ethnic and sexual backgrounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sibongile Machika, a commissioning editor at Jonathan Ball Publishers in South Africa, said technology was central to creating this new literary firmament.<\/p>\n

Many young writers are self-publishing online, she said, releasing everything from comic books to romance and graphic novels. They also use digital platforms to talk among themselves and reach new readers. Audio platforms like Genti<\/a> and AkooBooks<\/a> are publicizing African radio dramas and spoken word and tapping into youngsters glued to their phones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe book economy has been turned upside down,\u201d Machika said. \u201cPeople are publishing left, right and center, and they are not waiting for validation from any gatekeepers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Othuke Anthony Ominiabohs has been working to close the gaps in the Nigerian and African publishing industry. \u201cWe are on the cusp of a new era,\u201d he said.Credit…Tom Saater for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Even though he trained as a computer scientist in Nigeria, Othuke Anthony Ominiabohs always wanted to be a writer. In 2015, he self-published his first novel, \u201cOdufa: A Lover\u2019s Tale,\u201d to good reviews. But he soon faced the challenges confronting many self-published authors: how to promote the book and make money from it. In time, he sold 2,000 copies, and, along the way, identified the gaps in the Nigerian and African publishing industry.<\/p>\n

In 2018, he founded Masobe Books<\/a> with the explicit aim of closing those gaps and amplifying diverse regional voices. (Masobe means \u201cLet us read\u201d in the Isoko language spoken in Nigeria.) To drive sales, he has been collaborating with a pharmacy chain and other businesses, engaging social media influencers, convening a book club and giving discounts to bookstores.<\/p>\n

The strategy has paid off. Ominiabohs says he has published over 100 titles and sold over 100,000 book copies. Some titles, including \u201cNearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad,\u201d by Damilare Kuku, and \u201cBroken: Not a Halal Love Story,\u201d by Fatima Bala, have received a rapturous reception from readers in Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n