Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub–Saharan Africa: A Critical Bibliography.
Edited by Hans M. Zell with an introductory essay by Henry Chakava.
Lochcarron, Scotland: Hans Zell Publishing, 2008.
712 pages. Third edition. ISBN 978–0–054–10295–1. US$260.
Available in print and online formats.
Reviewed by David L. Easterbrook

This work is a major revision of Publishing and Book Development in Sub–Saharan Africa: An Annotated Bibliography (1996) which offers its users both expanded scope and increased annotated (many annotations are extensive) entries, a total of 2,517 of which 1,612 are new. It should also be noted the 1996 volume is a revised and much expanded edition of Publishing & Book Development in Africa: A Bibliography published by UNESCO in 1984 with 685 entries and compiled by Zell. Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub–Saharan Africa is a work of extraordinary breadth and significance. It represents the culmination of decades of passion for and commitment to publishing and book development in Africa on the part of Hans M. Zell.

Africa is the world’s second largest continent, containing the world’s second largest population. The African continent is comprised of 53 countries with at least 2,000 languages and many more dialects. The languages of the major colonial powers — English, French and Portuguese — are used as the official language in some African countries. Many countries will combine a European language with one or more African languages for the designation of official language. For example in Chad the official languages are Arabic and French and in Tanzania they are Swahili and English. South Africa, on the other hand, has designated eleven languages as official. A comprehensive perspective will take into account the broad diversity of languages, audiences, publishing initiatives, organizations and topics (both continent–wide and regional) that encompass African publishing. Since there is no one source that achieves this comprehensiveness successfully, Zell’s bibliography makes it possible to have access to the wide variety of sources available that will.

The main body of the work includes a listing of organizations and associations followed by a listing of serials and reference works. These are followed by comparative and regional studies, country studies and topical studies. A final section is focused on book industry training and self–publishing. Within the country studies, there are up to three subdivisions: (1) associations and book–related organizations, (2) national bibliography, (3) books in print and book trade directories and books articles, reports and interviews. There are 30 subdivisions in the topic studies section dealing with organizations such as the African Books Collective and the African Publishers Network, copyright, rights and licensing, open access publishing, digital media and electronic publishing, African language publishing, scientific, technical and medical publishing, libraries, multinational publishers, book assistance and donation programs and book fairs. Bibliographic references include Web links where they exist. While the majority of the bibliographic citations are to printed materials, some with an online edition listed as well, publications existing only in online format are also included. In addition URLs providing direct links to publications, e–mail addresses and URLs linked to organizations, publishers, publications, etc. are included. Use of the work is facilitated by an author index, a subject and geographical index and an organizations and associations index. Use of the work is also enhanced by introductory sections including the preface, introduction, introduction to the electronic edition and a list of periodicals cited.

The introductory essay by Henry Chakava, “African Publishing: From Ile–Ife, Nigeria to the Present,” provides an engaging account of the development of African publishing beginning with a conference held at what is now called Obafemi Awolowo University in 1973, the proceedings of which were published in Publishing in Africa in the Seventies; Proceedings of an International Conference on Publishing and Book Development (Ile–Ife: University of Ife Press, 1975), edited by Edwina Oluwasanmi, Eva McLean and Hans Zell. The essay looks at the major challenges and difficulties as well as the accomplishments and the road ahead. The impact of emerging digital technologies and copyright issues are also addressed. The essay sets the stage for a bibliography that is both comprehensive and definitive.

This work is an outstanding compilation of all the sources scholars, practitioners and students would need for any aspect of the topic. It provides sources to scholars and students in a wide–range of African studies disciplines, journalism, library development, international librarianship and history of publishing and the book as well as for the more practical uses of those in producing, publishing and marketing for African audiences. In addition to the wide–ranging usefulness of the sources cited which are easy to zero in on given the organization of the work, the focus and detail of many of the annotations make this bibliography one to browse and read for general information on the topics covered. More than anyone else, Hans M. Zell has for over 40 years shown unwavering commitment and devotion to the cause of book publishing and development in Africa. Through these years he has created for us a broad range of publications providing access to information about African publishing and book development as well as to Africa–related information. This work is among his finest and should be considered the ultimate resource on the topic.

About the author

David L. Easterbrook is the George and Mary LeCron Foster Curator at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.