We commissioned a scoping report into the trade publishing and literature sectors across nine of the countries in which we operate: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The report aims to gather up-to-date information on local contexts, trends and challenges in publishing and contemporary writing across the nine countries.
With numerous changes and innovations in the publishing and literature sectors in recent years, many as a result of the pandemic, the report aims to provide an overview of the sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa to inform the British Council’s future work in Literature. The insights gathered in the report also inform practice, policy, and potential collaborations.
The scoping report focuses on publishers, writers and literature organisations working across different African languages. It examines the publishing sector, including traditional book publishing, online publishing and writing magazines, self-publishing, audio and e-books and other innovative forms of publishing. The report also reflects on the broader literature sector in each country, including, but not limited to, festivals, writers, collectives, live literature, writer development, translation and other forms which are relevant in the local context.
Downlaod the report from our downloads section at the bottom of this page.
About the author
Anietie Isong is a researcher and creative writer. He completed his PhD in New Media and Writing at De Montfort University’s Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, a centre that undertakes research on the actual and potential impacts of computing and related technologies on society and its citizens. Isong’s thesis explored the influence of new media technologies on African literature. His debut novel, Radio Sunrise, won the Mckitterick Prize and was listed for other prizes, including the 9mobile Prize for Literature. The book has also been adapted into a movie. Isong’s second novel, News at Noon, was published in the UK in 2022. His collection of short stories, Someone Like Me, won the inaugural Headlight Review Chapbook Prize for Prose Fiction. His essay is included in the anthology, Of This Our Country (published by Borough Press), a collection of essays by acclaimed Nigerian writers on the home, identity and culture they know.