Afrilivres, an online bookshop on Africa and the diaspora

An online bookshop of titles from Francophone African publishers is being set up at www.afrilivres.com. The web site will provide participating publishers with a visible space to market their titles and bring them closer to prospective clients the world over. The site is being developed in collaboration with Africultures, a cultural organization and publisher of the journal Revue Africulture, based in France.

The project came out of a committee meeting of several Francophone African publishers in Paris from 10 to 13 November 2001 through the initiative of the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation, as part of its Bibliothèque Interculturelle project involving publishers from around the world.

The web site is expected to offer prospective readers faster access to search, select, order and pay for books from the range of titles available from the online catalogue of each publisher. The site is available to all publishers from French-speaking African countries and the diaspora. A space for children is also planned. The site is to be launched in October 2002.

The committee is composed of the following publishers:

o Joachim Adjovi (Editions du Flamboyant, Benin)
o Mamadou Kassé(Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal)
o Moussa Konaté (Editions Le Figuier, Mali)
o Isaïe Biton Koulibaly (Nouvelles Editions Ivoiriennes)
o Vidjogni Azonaha (Editions Haho, Togo)
o Camille Amouro (Editions des Diasporas, Benin)
o Hamidou Konaté (Editions Jamana, Mali)
o Béatrice Lalinon Gbado (Editions Ruisseaux d'Afrique, Benin)

Africultures is also part of a UNESCO campaign to promote books and reading in Africa, 'Ni Lu... Ni Connu'. The campaign, involving several organizations and publicity firms in France, intends to raise awareness to boost the level of literacy in Africa. Activities planned include advertising, publicity posters and collection of signatures, donations and support. The campaign will run for a year from 23 April 2002. More information is available at www.africultures.com or

Olivier Barlet, Revue Africultures, Les Pilles, 26110 Nyons, France. +33 (4) 75277480 (tel), +33 (4) 75277575 (fax), email: olivier-barlet@africultures.com

BPN [end]  [BPN, no 30, 2002, p 11.]

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