In African Publishing, ‘There’s a Renaissance Underway’

Children’s books are an area that most publishers in Africa say is growing rapidly.

Lola Shoneyin, a novelist and publisher of Ouida Books in Nigeria, leads a project to train writers, staff, illustrators, editors and graphic designers in publishing children’s books.

The project, known as BookStorm, was born from his 2017 trip to Kaduna, in northern Nigeria. When he read the children’s books written by Western authors there, he found the children panicked, he said, and of course could not relate to the experiences of the books.

Shoneyin, who previously wrote children’s books, decided to write a series where each book would be set in 19 states in northern Nigeria, where millions of children are out of school and it is difficult to find books with high quality pictures. . Through BookStorm, Shoneyin, who is the founder of the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival, also plans to publish 100 children’s books by 2027.

“We’re here, and we’re disrupting the book market for us,” Shoneyin said.

Although the industry is growing, challenges persist. Inflation and rising taxes have a negative impact on the entire production process. Founders also complain that they don’t make enough money from sales or get enough help or support to pay editors or run events. Piracy means that books are easily shared on social media.

But the only way to solve these constraints, says Ngamije, at the Doek Festival, is to unite with those working in the industry across Africa, and face them together.

“We have to have boots on the ground. We can’t fix this struggle from somewhere else,” he said. “We need each other, and we have to carry each other and hold each other, and give each other and hold each other’s ground.”