One sector that most publishers in Africa say is rapidly growing is children’s books.
Lola Shoneyin, a novelist and the publisher of Ouida Books in Nigeria, is leading a project to train writers, agents, illustrators, editors and graphic designers on the publication of children’s books.
The project, known as BookStorm, was born from a trip she took in 2017 to Kaduna, in northern Nigeria. As she read to children there from picture books by Western authors, she noticed the children were fidgety, she said, and clearly unable to relate to the experiences in the books.
Shoneyin, who had written a children’s book before, decided to write a series in which each book would be set in each of the 19 states in northern Nigeria, where millions of children do not attend school and it is difficult to find high quality picture books. Through BookStorm, Shoneyin, who is also the founder of the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival, also plans to publish 100 children’s books by 2027.
“We are arriving, and we are cracking the book market for ourselves,” Shoneyin said.
Even as the industry grows, challenges persist. Inflation and growing taxes negatively impact the entire production process. Founders also lament not making enough from sales or getting enough subsidies or grants to pay editors or hold events. Piracy means books are easily shared for download on social media.
But the only way to solve these constraints, said Ngamije, of the Doek Festival, is for those working in the industry across Africa to be in solidarity with one another, and to face them together.
“We have to have boots on the ground. We can’t fix this struggle from somewhere else,” he said. “We are going to need each other, and we are going to have to carry and hold each other, and represent and hold space for each other.”