Q&A: Words on… Ambassadors at the Rights Café, Nairobi International Book Fair

By Africa in Words on 24 November , 2023 • ( 1 )

AiW note: With thanks to Catalyst Press who have worked with us to bring you this twinned Q&A…

“With increasing global focus on African writing, this new initiative aims to open networks on the continent and to get African writing into more readers’ hands across African countries and globally.”
For Immediate Release – Book Rights Trading In African Content At The Nairobi International Book Fair For The First Time.
eKitabu.com/news, September 25, 2023

This is a twinned “Words on… Q&A”, a response post to the same set of questions asked of eKitabu, a Nairobi-based organisation that develops, adapts, publishes, and distributes African content. In September 2023, in collaboration with the Kenyan Publishing Association (KPA) and the African Publishers Network (APNET), eKitabu sponsored twelve publishing professionals to attend a “Rights Café”, the first dedicated space for book rights events and discussions at the Nairobi International Book Fair (NIBF).

Today, with thanks to Catalyst Press, one of the invited Rights Café Ambassadors, we are delighted to share eKitabu’s responses to our Q&A; and here, in this twinned post, we are also offering responses from several of those publishing professionals — including journalists, agents, and booksellers — from across Europe and North America, who were invited by eKitabu to attend and share in the new venture for book rights across the continent at NIBF, 2023.

They talk about the impact of being at eKitabu’s Rights Café, with events under the heading “Moving African Content: Rights Trading Perspectives, Here” and “Now”, as well as their hopes for the future in this lesser-seen area of international books production, and the move, as eKitabu has put it in their blog, “from being predominantly buyers to sellers of literary rights”, for and with African publishing and writers.

What opens up between the Q&As is a fascinating insight into this area of books production, bringing light to this crucial aspect of the relationships involved in the publication, ownership, and sharing of writers’ work on the business end of international books…

Participants
Sponsor and NIBF Rights Café co-organiser Q&A:
eKitabu, an organization for accessible digital content for inclusive and quality education (Kenya)

NIBF Rights Café Ambassadors (Europe and US) Q&A – below:
Bieke Van Aggelen, African Literary Agency (the Netherlands); Stefanie Hirsbrunner, publisher, bookseller, director of the African Book Festival Berlin (Germany); Raphael Thierry, Ægitna Literary Agency (France); Jessica Powers, publisher, Catalyst Press (United States); Olivia Snaije, journalist (France).

Olivia Snaije is a journalist and editor based in Paris who writes about translation, literature, graphic novels, the Middle East, and multiculturalism. She is the author of three books and a contributor to New Lines magazine and The Africa Report.

Jessica Powers is the publisher of Catalyst Press (www.catalystpress.org), a North American and South African based publishing company that specializes in African writers and African-based books, from children’s literature to graphic novels/comics to fiction and non-fiction for adults. She is the author of 9 books for children and young adults and writes under the name J.L. Powers (www.jlpowers.net).

Raphaël Thierry, a French literary agent since 2019, founded Ægitna Literary Agency in Lyon in January 2023. He represents writers from various countries, including Mali, Cameroon, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, France, Argentina, Benin, Algeria, Togo, Haiti, Comoros, and works with Présence Africaine Publishing for foreign rights. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, specializing in African literature and book markets, with research in France and Cameroon from 2007 to 2013. He has taught at the University of Mannheim in Germany and currently teaches at Louis Lumière University in Lyon, the University of Paris 13 Saint Denis, and in various Masterclasses. Since 2011, he has managed the EditAfrica website, focusing on the African publishing industry. Additionally, he offers consultancy services to international organizations, including the Institut Français, the International Organization of La Francophonie, and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Stefanie Hirsbrunner is a political scientist, publisher and bookseller, and Book Festival director. A trained hotel manager, she is the author of several non-fiction books, including Sorry about Colonialism and Hotel Fünf Sterne. Most recently, she edited the anthology Could This Be Love? Kann das denn Liebe sein?, a collection of personal essays on the topic of interracial relationships, which was published in 2022. Since 2018, she has been running the bookshop InterKontinental, which won the German Bookshop Award twice already, and the award winning publishing house of the same name together with Karla Kutzner and Venice Trommer. She also serves as director of the African Book Festival Berlin which celebrated its 5th anniversary in 2023. She is a brand ambassador for The Social Hub Berlin as well as the Nairobi International Book Fair.

Bieke van Aggelen is the founder of the African Literary Agency. Together with a team of scouts and editors, the agency works to empower African voices in literature by bringing the best voices from all over the continent to publishers worldwide. Bieke has over 30 years of experience as a literary agent, specializing in selling rights in adult fiction, speculative fiction, and children’s books by authors and publishers from the African continent.

AiW: Thanks, everyone, for talking with us about this inaugural Rights Cafe at the Nairobi International Book Fair (NIBF) 2023. Perhaps — as we have with eKitabu — we could start by your telling us a bit more about your involvement from your side of things — why this, why now?

BIEKE VAN AGGELEN (literary agent, African Literary Agency, the Netherlands): I was asked to host a virtual workshop “Pitching your book” before NIBF took place. This ended up in an invite to participate in organizing NIBF for the first Rights Fair. This was a unique starting point to exchange information and find out the level of knowledge and information demands from Kenya.

RAPHAEL THIERRY (literary agent, Ægitna Literary Agency, France): For me, it was my second invitation to a publishing event in Kenya and my first participation at the Nairobi International Book Fair. As a literary agent and a consultant, I’m currently engaged in various initiatives aimed at enhancing exchange of rights and partnerships with publishers across the African continent in multiple languages. I was eager to meet potential partners for rights acquisition and selling, and more broadly partnerships in Kenya, Africa, and internationally.

JESSICA POWERS (publisher, Catalyst Press, U.S.A.): I’ve been signing African authors for several years, including rights deals—but the rights deals have been primarily with publishers in South Africa. In addition, because of my own strong personal and professional relationship with South Africans, writers from southern Africa have dominated my lists, not exclusively but they are very prominent. I definitely want to expand to publishing writers from other parts of the continent, so for me, it was exciting (and necessary) to go and begin to make relationships with publishers and writers in East Africa. Since this was the inaugural rights fair at the Nairobi International Book Festival, I’m so glad to have been a part of it.

OLIVIA SNAIJE (journalist): I came to the NIBF as a journalist to cover the professional rights program organized by eKitabu for the industry magazine Publishing Perspectives for whom I freelance. I also freelance for The Africa Report and interviewed the writer Yvonne Owuor for them. I am very interested in the publishing industry across the continent as well as the writers.

AiW: Can you describe your past work with African writing and writers/publishing? What other professional hats do you wear?

BIEKE VAN AGGELEN: I lived in South Africa for several years and wanted to share the voices from the African continent to the rest of the World. Due to my experience as a publisher for over 35 years I wanted to dedicate my time and love for writers originating from the African continent and bridge the gap between the “Western” perception of Africa and the reality.

STEFANIE HIRSBRUNNER (publisher, bookseller, director of African Book Festival Berlin): Since 2018, together with two colleagues, I run InterKontinental, the only bookstore for African literature in Germany, and also behind the annual African Book Festival Berlin where I serve as director. Everything happened very organically: festivals never showcased African writers on the centre stage, so we started a festival curated by African writers and focussing on their work and discourses. Bookstores never stocked the literature we showcased and sold at the festival so we started a bookstore where readers can now find the newest books from all over the African continent and in several languages, too. The bookstore just won the German bookstore prize for the second time. But since the shelf with translations into the German language was still way too small for our liking, InterKontinental then started a publishing house two years ago. The first eight titles include prominent names such as Jennifer Makumbi, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, A. Igoni Barrett. InterKontinental Verlag is the 2023 winner of the Berlin publishing prize.

RAPHAEL THIERRY: I spent about fifteen years as a researcher, delving into the dynamics of the publishing industry across various African countries, particularly in French-speaking countries, and exploring the relationships between publishers and the international market. This often involved navigating power dynamics and understanding the intricate history of the industry, where economies, especially the symbolic capital of publishing in Northern countries, play a significant role in creating imbalances across these markets. I’ve authored various books and articles in this field.

Since 2019, I transitioned into a literary agent, and I’ve been striving to work in numerous African countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Guinea, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo. In 2022, I established my literary agency, Ægitna, where I represent the works of around ten authors from different countries (and books published by publishers, notably based in Argentina and in Algeria). I’ve also built a strong partnership with Paris based Présence Africaine, a pioneering publishing house specializing in non-fiction and literature related to the African continent since 1949. This publishing house boasts an extensive collection of classics and contemporary works, and it’s crucial to explore the potential for translating (or reissuing) these works, especially across the African continent.

Recently, I had the pleasure of collaborating with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the African Publisher Network, and Emma House in a mentorship program called “The Publishers’ Circle,” designed for French-speaking African publishers, that is still developing, notably towards several programs in Morocco or in Cameroon. In a similar vein, in partnership with Agnès Debiage, I’m actively contributing to increasing the visibility of a group of French-speaking African publishers at the 2023 Sharjah Publishers’ Conference.

JESSICA POWERS: Catalyst Press, the publishing company I started and own, publishes African writers and African based books, so I’m very involved with the book industry and writers on the continent. I also am a writer myself, as J.L. Powers, and have written three novels set in Africa—two in South Africa and one in Somalia. In 2017, Catalyst Press also launched the annual #ReadingAfrica week, the first full week of December. This is an international campaign to promote and celebrate the variety of writing from the continent. Come join us! In 2023, it’s occurring Dec 3-9. Use the hashtags #ReadingAfrica or #ReadingAfricaWeek to search for posts, publications, and roundtables, or to post your own content.

OLIVIA SNAIJE: I’ve interviewed quite a few African authors over the years and have written about the problems of Francophone African authors who are published in France and rarely see their books distributed in their home countries or when they are, at impossible prices. I’ve also interviewed a number of African publishers at various industry events. Recently I was the editor of a new website on Arabic language literature that includes authors from sub-Saharan Africa.

Rights Cafe breakfast

Ambassadors at the NIBF

AiW: What was the most exciting or inspiring part of attending the NIBF or the work you did there? What do you see will be ongoing benefits of your time there in 2023 and what do you hope for the future of rights and African writing at NIBF?

BIEKE VAN AGGELEN: I am so inspired and happy with the open mind and the ambition of the people I met at NIBF. There is a lot to do still and I’m very eager in participating and share my own knowledge to coach and teach future Literary Agents or Foreign Rights Departments in existing publishing houses.

STEFANIE HIRSBRUNNER: Being part of the NIBF ambassador´s programme is a huge gain for my company and also for the diversity we are looking for in publishing and books sales. Buying and selling rights to and from African partners is what we are looking for in in the future. So far it has mostly happened outside the continent, for example in Frankfurt book fair, but we would very much like to deal with agents and publishers on the ground directly. NIBF therefore bears the huge potential to become Africa´s new hub for rights trade and African writing.

RAPHAEL THIERRY: During the Nairobi International Book Fair, I had the opportunity to explore numerous publishing houses, reignite ongoing discussions, and meet face-to-face with a few publishers I’m currently collaborating with. One noteworthy partnership is with Longhorn Publishers, where we are in the final stages of acquiring the rights to translate two works from Swahili to French by the eminent late Ken Walibora.

I was also delighted to meet the publishing legend and pioneer, Henry Chakava, along with his wife, during the fair. Our discussions revolved around my quest for partners to publish various significant classics in the postcolonial field. As for the future benefits, I can already express my contentment in having a clearer perspective on the diverse publishers with whom I can potentially collaborate in Kenya and the broader region. In particular, there’s an Ugandan publishing house whose work I find absolutely fascinating.

Looking ahead, my goals are straightforward: I aspire to further strengthen these connections, foster new opportunities for rights acquisitions and sales, and facilitate connections between the Nairobi Book Fair and other book fairs I’m linked with, especially in Morocco, Mali, and France. Additionally, I’m considering the prospect of bridging invitations abroad for Kenyan authors, and in Kenya international authors to present their works to Kenyan readers, should the opportunity arise, as for example in a festival like the brilliant Macondo Literature initiative.

JESSICA POWERS: I was very intrigued by the powerful, rich, and varied self-publishing industry in Kenya. Many many talented writers self-publish. I believe this is related to the fact that educational materials dominate the lists of traditional publishers, rather than genre or literary fiction, so authors are forced to make their own plan. But it’s exciting at the same time and feels like a potential place to find amazing books.

OLIVIA SNAIJE: People’s generosity, energy, and availability was very inspiring as was the number of writers. I hope the professional program will continue to develop and I would love to see more rights trading south-south across the continent in particular between Francophone and Anglophone territories and why not Lusophone and Arabic territories as well.

Panel session – Moving African Content: Rights Trading Perspectives

AiW: What opportunities and challenges are there for rights sales and deals both across the continent and outside of the continent?

STEFANIE HIRSBRUNNER: The publishing industry in Kenya, to stay with the exemplar of NIBF, presented itself focussed on mostly educational and spiritual writing which is unfortunately not what our German readership is looking for. Genre therefore plays a big role when trying to buy rights directly from African business partners. I also noticed a general mistrust towards publishers and editors, expressed from writers themselves which is perhaps a reason why many choose to self-publish. This bears of course the possibility of watering down the quality of literature but also makes rights trade more difficult.

RAPHAEL THIERRY: In terms of opportunities and challenges, it’s essential to initiate these discussions, get to know each other, and establish the trust necessary for future collaborations. The challenges are numerous, as there is currently limited translation exchange between different languages and among publishers in the African continent. However, this is what I find to be the most exciting perspective.

Additionally, there’s the classic role of literary agents, which involves identifying strong titles that might interest my clients abroad. The literary productions of publishers like Storymoja, especially in the field of children’s or YA literature, hold significant potential for some of my French-speaking partners.

On a broader scale, and with a bit of a researcher’s perspective, I often like to remind myself that we are part of a larger historical context which saw Wole Soyinka’s first French translation published in Cameroon in the early 70s, or Okot p’Bitek’s Song of lawino translated into French by Présence Africaine in the same 70s, and it’s not always necessary to reinvent the wheel. I’m particularly thankful to eKitabu and the Kenyan Publishers Association for creating a platform that revives historical connections among professionals worldwide, starting from Kenya. There’s often a misconception that African publishing professionals lack visibility, and it’s crucial to remember the substantial work still carried out by figures like Hans Zell or projects like the Read African Books portal driven by the groundbreaking African Books Collective, which has been representing catalogs from publishers across the African continent and successfully operating in since 1989.

I’d also like to mention that the most significant event in African publishing in the North took place in 1980 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was during this event that the Noma Award, funded by the Shoichi Noma Foundation, of the Japanese Kodansha Group, was presented for the first time. Mariama Bâ, a pioneering Senegalese female author, received this inaugural award for So Long a Letter, initially published in Senegal by Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines. This book was subsequently translated into around ten languages, and there’s even now a street near Frankfurt named after Mariama Bâ.

This history is fundamental; it brings us closer and reminds us that bridges have always existed. It’s our responsibility to continue down this path, starting from places like Nairobi.

JESSICA POWERS: Accessibility is absolutely an issue. African publishers have a hard time attending rights fairs outside of the continent—for both financial reasons and the logistics of getting a visa, which is often denied by the host country. Some African publishers will have the opportunity, through fellowships and grants, to attend rights fairs in Istanbul or Sharjah or Frankfurt, and that’s a wonderful thing, but if publishers outside of the continent are interested in publishing African writers, we absolutely have to travel to rights fairs in Africa, or visit different countries to meet with publishers and writers. We have to come to them. This isn’t something most publishers in Europe or North America even think to do. Maybe this initiative can begin to change that.

OLIVIA SNAIJE: On the continent a professionalization is necessary with more knowledge about contracts etc. I would hope to see more publishers on the continent selling to the global north rather than the contrary. And fighting book piracy, making people aware so that they won’t buy pirated books. (This is linked to affordability of books.)

Rights Deals Speed Dating Session at NIBF 2023

NIBF Ambassadors

AiW: What are the most ethical and/or heart-lifting changes in practice you’ve seen happening across your industry/industries recently? What would you like to see become more visible going forward (jobs, roles, avenues, practices)?

STEFANIE HIRSBRUNNER: African literature is often labeled as a genre itself which in the past consequently navigated publishers into selling a niche product to a very small audience in an often stereotypical way. InterKontinental makes it a point not to work with those clichés. For each story – whether it is from Uganda, Botswana, Eritrea or the diaspora – we find the right audience. In the end, readers are looking for a good book: a crime story or the historical novel or a love story or a satire. Our goal is to find those stories and to present them in the best way possible, including a fresh design for example or modern and sensitive translations.

RAPHAEL THIERRY: I’d like to mention the example of Hemley Boum’s novel Les Jours Viennent et Passent, published in France and Côte d’Ivoire in French. It was translated into English in Cameroon by Bakwa Books, with the translator hailing from one of the regions featured in the novel. Subsequently, the translation rights were acquired by Two Lines Press, an American publisher. Bakwa also made a distribution deal in South Africa with Modjaji Books, so Hemley Boum’s work is now circulating in English across the globe, and especially in Africa.

I could also bring up the case of Lucy Mushita’s novel, Chinongwa, which was recently released in a revised edition in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and later in Australia. This work has once again garnered the attention of publishers from different linguistic backgrounds worldwide.

Such projects are also dependent on the authors’ willingness and ability to retain rights for publishing their works on the African continent. In this sense, I often quote and remind Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s essential 2016 article “Why I chose an African Publisher instead of a Western one?”, aligning with Chinua Achebe’s take on collaborating with local publishers, at the Ife Ife 1973 conference on Publishing in Africa.

Another significant and necessary dimension pertains to the classics, or “modern classics,” from renowned African authors, which are often underrepresented on the African continent through African presses. It appears that more and more initiatives and projects are emerging in this direction. Today, I am pleased to be engaged in numerous discussions regarding works from Présence Africaine’s catalog, particularly in Nigeria, and hopefully soon in Kenya.

If practices were to evolve following this initial experience, I would strongly hope to see the development of improved, more widespread circulation within events like the Nairobi Book Fair, which could become focal points for professionals from all around the world, similar to how Harare, Yaoundé, Dakar, Kampala, Ibadan, or Ife Ife served as significant historical landmarks in the African publishing landscape.

JESSICA POWERS: I love the way African writers have been quietly and systematically refusing to be pigeon-holed. For decades, “African literature” was seen as a genre. It had to be serious, literary, political. When you really think about it, that is a ridiculous way for books by Africans to be described. Is there such a thing as “Swedish literature”? “American literature”? “British literature”? Nope. Of course, books written by Swedish writers will probably have particular concerns peculiar to Sweden, and books written by Americans will have particular concerns peculiar to those of us living in the United States. But Americans write crime fiction, romance, thrillers, sci-fi, etc. As do Swedish writers, and British writers. So do African writers! Let’s get out of the mind-set that differentiates African writers from everybody else. It’s a continent. It’s a continent alive with different cultures, languages, realities, histories, political systems. It’s a continent thriving with writers who write what they like. As it should be.

OLIVIA SNAIJE: Making books more affordable for the public in innovative ways.

AiW: Finally, how can our blog, books, and online communities best offer support for your work with African writing?

BIEKE VAN AGGELEN: I hope that my work as a literary agent for authors from the African continent gives opportunities to all African based publishers, authors, bookshops, book organizations. I would love to keep on sharing information on and-on-and market our online communities for those beyond the African continent. We need to be aware of the decolonization traumas and how we need to support all those talented and ambitious professionals in all countries of Africa. It will help if we can unite and support each other with this common goal.

RAPHAEL THIERRY: As a French literary agent representing primarily authors from around the world who write in French (but also in English or in Spanish), it’s crucial to find spaces for exchange, sharing experiences, and visibility for the work I’m endeavoring to develop throughout the African continent, particularly in the realm of translation in Africa. A platform like Africa in Words, therefore, serves as an excellent means to promote this work, and I hope it will facilitate the transformation of opportunities into future collaborations in many countries, including those in African languages, and of course the English-speaking African regions.

OLIVIA SNAIJE: As a journalist any fresh news about African writing is interesting to me in particular trends and innovations I wouldn’t be able to read about elsewhere.

eKitabu’s “Words On… ” about the Rights Café at NIBF this year is here.

For info, including videos of panels among other content, about eKitabu and the Rights Cafe at the Nairobi International Book Festival, head to the blog area of their website, where you can also browse around and find out more about the various areas of their work for African content.

Our thanks to all our participants in this twinned Q&A set, and to reiterate thanks to Jessica at Catalyst Press — for bringing it to us and her collaboration and liaison, for images and other info, so that we could bring it to you.