Imprint Africa: Conversations with African Women Publishers

Imprint Africa: Conversations with African Women Publishers maps an early twenty-first century history of the remarkable women who have pioneered the publishing industry in Africa in the last few decades. These luminaries have modelled resistance to the forces excluding African writers from the publishing industry, both on the continent and beyond. Our 9 profiled publishers address themes of North-South economic disparity in the publishing industry, the demise of publishing on the continent amidst Structural Adjustment Programs and the political turmoil of the 1970s, the importance of African language publishing, the gendered dynamics of publishing in Africa, the fluid nature of African identity in an era of migration and diaspora, and the new importance of online platforms for African publishers. Featuring a preface by celebrated publisher Margaret Busby, the anthology highlights the contributions of female knowledge producers on the African continent, and it celebrates the works created, circulated, and promoted by the new network of female intellectuals and activists whom the book chronicles.

Over the last decade, the landscape of African literature has changed dramatically. The flowering of women-led publishing houses and literary festivals such as Huza Press in Rwanda and Ake Arts and Book Festival in Nigeria has led to two major literary-publishing shifts traced by the book. First, more opportunities exist than ever before for African women to narrate their own stories; and second, a growing number of writers and publishers are now challenging the hegemony of northern hemisphere publishers in producing literary representations of the continent. Through a series of conversations with the African women who have spearheaded these changes (e.g. Goretti Kyomuhendo, founder of FEMRITE and the African Writers Trust, and Zukiswa Wanner, one of the co-founders of Afrolit Sans Frontieres as well as of Paivapa Press), Imprint Africa traces the inception and development of this ongoing literary movement to expand the boundaries of African literature.

Framed as a set of conversations between Joel Cabrita (Professor of African History at Stanford University), Stanford University students, and publishers from the continent, Imprint Africa presents the generation and preservation of knowledge as a living process — a dialogue between individuals of varying personal identities and cultural backgrounds. Not only does this allow for more expansive discussions of publishing in its various forms, but also frames the production of knowledge as an active practice that demands community engagement.