Though enthusiasm for digital publishing is widespread in West Africa, brownouts, piracy, and high expenses are among the factors slowing development.
Exile, Literature and the High Price of Freedom
Authors exiled from Iran, Cuba, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria and the Congo discuss oppression, inspiration, and the cost of freedom.
Bonjour, UAE: March’s Abu Dhabi Book Fair Highlights French Lit, Culture
This article is part of a series on publishing in the Middle East which is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. By Olivia Snaije This year France will be the cultural focus at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which runs from March 15-20. French culture gets a big boost at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Book …
What’s Bedeviling Paris’ Salon du Livre?
By Olivia Snaije PARIS: It should be an occasion for celebration — it’s the 30th anniversary, after all — but Paris’ Salon du Livre opens today in a climate of sniping and mudslinging. It’s “the fair we love to hate,” quipped Nicolas Gary on his literary blog, Actualitté. For years, French publishers have been complaining that the fair is neither …
French Literary Agents Stage a Quiet Revolution
By Olivia Snaije PARIS: Until very recently, literary agents have been viewed in France with suspicion and the very topic seen as taboo. Traditionally, authors would submit and sell books directly to publishers. Agents were viewed as mere interlopers, interfering with a privileged relationship between author and publisher and introducing a mercenary, Anglo-Saxon element into the closed publishing circuit. But …
Even in Peace, Lebanon’s Literary World Remains at War
By Yasmina Jraissati BEIRUT: This year, with Beirut serving as the World Book Capital for 2009, the city’s literary world remains linguistically and cultural divided: the city will be hosting two distinct book fairs, the Lebanese Francophone Book Fair (Salon francophone du livre de Beyrouth) which took place in October and November, and the International Beirut Book Fair (Maarad al …
Bonus Material: Should Beirut Merge Its Two Book Fairs?
By Edward Nawotka The question implicit in Yasmina Jraissati’s lead article today is whether or not it would be better for Lebanon’s two book fairs—one catering to French readers, one to Arabic readers—to merge. Jraissati argues that keeping the fairs separate only serves to exacerbate deep suspicions between the two cultures. It seems to me that a book fair is …
An American Eyes New African Lit
By Edward Nawotka On the face of it, Rob Spillman is an unlikely candidate to be editor of Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing. He is, after all, a white guy from Brooklyn. “A few years ago I published an international issue of Tin House, the literary journal I edit,” says Spillman. “For six months I …