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A Rich History and Strong Foundation

Africa is a continent with a rich history of centuries of varied cultures, people groups, natural wonders and resources, amazing art, and music. Throughout that long history storytellers, teachers, scholars, artists, and leaders have inspired and nurtured a hunger for learning and wisdom. Earliest recorded history includes events and documents from Africa. Their wisdom and knowledge are a rich resource; a unique African treasure that has impacted the world through the ages. The Africa Study Bible: God’s Word Through African Eyes (Published by Oasis) includes extensive information and a timeline on the History of Christianity in Africa. It is a unique resource that combines the clear and precise text of the New Living Translation – with 2600 study tools and notes written by 350 contributors from 50 African countries, reflecting unique African ideas and experiences. Thomas C. Oden, author of How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity is a wonderful resource on this topic.

The contribution of Africa in global Christianity continues to shape the church around the world as this rich tradition lives on. Across Africa, men and women have stories to tell and wisdom to teach the Church and the wider culture. It is then necessary to have a robust publishing industry that assures these important African voices can be heard. Various publishing efforts are thriving, but the Christian publishing industry across the African continent as a whole faces many challenges.

Writers, editors, and publishing administrators have a vision to collaborate in nurturing and encouraging each other. After a gathering of African publishers in 2018 to evaluate and share information from their work, the group identified the realities and challenges. The objective data from the ALS research documented and confirmed their experiences. Collectively they crafted and signed The Africa Speaks Accord pledging to work together in determining strategies to overcome them. The implementation of the Africa Booksellers Survey will inform these efforts. More importantly, it will strengthen the Africa Speaks network.

Tyndale House Foundation (THF) has been part of this rich African tradition since its founding in 1963. In 1962 Dr. Kenneth N. Taylor wrote that he had visited 14 of the 28 new nations of Africa that had been formed. Such travels evidenced his deep interest in, and commitment to Africa. That interest and commitment was fertile ground for THF’s development of relationships with many organizations and individuals with a heart for Africa.

 

The Africa Leadership Study

The Foundation’s experience over the years affirmed that its investments in Africa were wisely managed by the recipients and were strategically important. However, they recognized weaknesses in their understanding of contemporary Africa. They wanted to learn about initiatives and opportunities that might better suit current circumstances. Most of the organizations with which the Foundation had worked across a wide variety of fields had Western rather than African roots. This prompted them to seek to understand the dynamics of leadership formation, to better understand what literature was available in Africa, who had written it, how it was distributed, and what role it played in leadership development. They also wanted to learn more about what was happening in the French and Portuguese speaking countries and cultures. Most importantly, they suspected that ministries with African roots could better understand the cultural context, define programs, and address priority needs in Africa. The study would better inform strategic investments in efforts that would have contextual impact.

In 2008 THF planted the seeds that grew into the Africa Leadership Study.

The Right Reverend Dr. Joseph Garang Atem Zorial from South Sudan, once said, “Your support provides a base for us to work together to make a space for God to act.” What an elegant description of the interaction between vision, hard work, and provision. It highlights the dynamic impact that unity in relationships, the hallmark of Christian community, can have. When everyone involved works together in unity, this makes space for the Holy Spirit. This was the context for THF’s decades-long research and development project.

“Your support provides a base for us to work together to make a space for God to act.”

Reading and Leading

Christians have often been at the forefront of mass literacy. Protestants, in particular, have emphasized the need for everyone to read the Bible and interpret it competently. Wherever these Christians have been influential, this value has had a positive influence on education, literacy rates, the publication of reading materials, and reading itself. And yet, the reading habits of Christians around the world have not often been researched and studied. In the book recently published to detail, document and share this study of African leadership, African Christian Leadership: Realities, Opportunities, and Impact, the tenth chapter was devoted to the topic of reading and leading. Entitled Reading and Leading – Challenges for African Christian Leaders, this chapter was included to initiate a first step toward researching and analyzing these habits and examining how understanding these habits might be helpful to those involved in writing, publishing, and distributing Christian materials today.

An understanding of reading habits, availability of literature and authors is essential in assessing leadership development. The survey included several questions regarding these topics.

• Availability of Bibles and frequency of use
• Computer, tablet, cell phone, internet access and use
• Number of books read in a year
• Availability and purchase of books, newspapers, magazines from bookshops or vendors
• Availability of materials in digital format
• Favorite authors

Researchers also visited bookshops and street vendors in all three countries, talking to owners and reviewing available materials. 

The raw data and the findings regarding Reading and Leading are available in the ALS materials. Africa Speaks recently reviewed this research in an article entitled Popular Fallacy About Africa Debunked by The Africa Leadership Study. Insight numbers 14 through 17 in 17 Insights into Leadership in Africa specifically focus on reading. The printable PDF of the booklet is available in English, French, and Portuguese.

 

What Did the Research Reveal?

1. The Bible as the Word of God is important in the lives of African Christians. It plays a central role in outreach, leadership development, discipleship, and preaching. Fifty five percent of survey respondents read their Bible daily.
2. There is a strong need for local Christian authors. The individuals identified as having a significant impact on the lives of those who responded to the survey were not listed as favorite authors: because they are not in print! They have a story to tell. They understand their local context. But for many different reasons they often haven’t invested in writing and don’t have a way to distribute what they might write.
3. The need for local Christian authors is especially the case in Francophone and Lusophone Africa where it can be more difficult to acquire knowledge about leadership realities because most materials available are in English.

 

The Call

Africa Speaks is seeking to nurture a collaborative network of people and organizations committed to encouraging influential leaders to tell their stories. This would serve as an example and encouragement for voices across Africa to tell their stories and speak their wisdom in ways that fit their communities. These efforts are based on sound, contemporary research, done by Africans in Africa, that has identified realities related to reading, authorship, and publishing. Other effective resources for achieving this network are the experience, insight and lessons learned from long term efforts of publishers across the continent who have a vision of a flourishing publishing industry.

Africa Booksellers Survey (ABS 2022) comes hot on the heels of the Africa Leadership Study with an in-depth study of the publishing in 19 countries. The process and the first findings of this survey will be presented in more depth in the article devoted exclusively to the ABS.

The former Bishop of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan, and advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Anglican Communion affairs, the Right Reverend Anthony Poggo, has been appointed Secretary General of the worldwide Anglican Communion. His role is to head the Communion’s Secretariat, which is based at St Andrew’s House in London, UK. He is responsible for Primates’ meetings and meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council and its Standing Committee.

The Archbishop of South Sudan Justin Badi Arama, said: “We thank God that out of the suffering Church in South Sudan, God has raised Bishop Poggo to this highest position. He is coming at a time when the Anglican Communion is facing many challenges. But as Mordecai said to Esther; we trust God that ‘maybe it is for such a time like this that God brought you up.’ We encourage him to always be guided by the Scriptures as we support him in prayers.”

We thank God that out of the suffering Church in South Sudan, God has raised Bishop Poggo to this highest position.

He will bring to this role the experience of two decades of service as a bishop in South Sudan, years of experience as an editor with Scripture Union and Sudan Literature Center, and a childhood refugee background.

 

Scripture Union and ACROSS Legacy

After earning a master’s degree in Biblical Studies at the Nairobi International School of Theology, now Africa International University, Archbishop Anthony Poggo served among Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda with Scripture Union (SU), becoming the first full-time South Sudanese staff worker for SU. He was ordained a deacon in 1995 and a priest in 1996. He continued to work for Scripture Union until he moved to Nairobi to join a Christian organization called ACROSS (Association of Christian Resource Organizations Serving Sudan). There he was asked to manage the Sudan Literature Center (SLC), which produces Christian books for Sudan.

After a few years, he took a one year leave from his work to earn an MBA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University. Upon his return, he rose to the position of Publishing Director and eventually became the Executive Director of the organization. In an article published in the October 2001 issue of The Door, a magazine of the Diocese of Oxford, Archbishop Anthony Poggo said he was doing a Masters in Publishing because he needed to be better equipped in management and because it fit well with what he was doing in publishing at the literature center.

He said: “Many people ask me: ‘you are an ordained minister, where is your parish?’ My answer is that I consider my parish the entire group of people in Sudan who use our books.”

I consider my parish as the entire group of people in Sudan who use our books

Publishing and Literature Legacy

One of the people who inspired Archbishop Anthony Poggo to write was Myles Munroe, (1954-2014) a Bahamian evangelist and author of numerous books, speaker and leadership consultant who said: “If you want to continue your ministry beyond the grave, write a book.” Archbishop Poggo’s very first trip to the United Kingdom was to attend a Media Associates International (MAI)’s LittWorld conference in 1998. MAI is a non-profit organization which equips Christian wordsmiths, editors and publishing staff to create life-changing content in the world’s hard places.

Archbishop Anthony Bishop’s very first book was the result of a crucial choice. He chose to write a book first before finishing his research and thesis for his degree. He was convinced that a book would have more impact than a PHD research thesis that would be in a University library and maybe read by very few people. His book Come Let Us Rebuild, published by Tim Flatman in 2013, is a commentary on the Book of Nehemiah (who was himself a refugee) in which he highlights striking parallels between the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem, and the condition of his own nation, South Sudan, as it emerges from long-term conflict. Archbishop Poggo finds Nehemiah of urgent relevance to South Sudan on current issues such as climate change, planning, leadership, reconciliation, spiritual gifts, and community renewal. It certainly also speaks to today’s world, full of refugees and displaced persons from countries around the globe.

Robert B. Reekie, founding President of Media Associates International (MAI) and a pioneer in global Christian publishing training, died peacefully on July 18, 2022. He was 92.

Bob co-founded MAI in 1985 with the late James F. Engel, then Professor of Communication Research at Wheaton College Graduate School, and the late James L. Johnson, author and founder of the Communications Department at Wheaton Graduate School.

“Our vision was to be a catalyst for indigenous Christian publishing,” Bob said in a 2010 interview. “We were fervently committed to finding ways through training and guidance to see increasing print-media products conceived and published by Christians in the same countries where those materials would be sold and distributed.”

Our vision was to be a catalyst for indigenous Christian publishing

Starting with no salary or staff and only a typewriter and table in modest rental space, Bob assumed his duties as MAI President in May 1985. It was a step of faith that God would honor by ultimately growing MAI into a significant global work that to date has conducted trainings in more than 90 countries for 10,000 Christian publishing staff and writers.

“Bob was an inspiration and mentor to so many around the world,” said John Maust, who succeeded Bob as MAI President in 1998 when Bob retired. “His legacy will be felt for years to come.”

Bob was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 27, 1929, to Scottish immigrant parents. He held management positions with industrial firms there before leaving South Africa to pursue theological studies in America.

Completing his studies, Bob became a seminary professor of New Testament, as well as an ordained Baptist minister. In 1962, he accepted a position with the David C. Cook Foundation. As Executive Vice President and Director of the Foundation, he started its on-site training program and traveled extensively around the world.

Leaving Cook after 23 years and starting MAI presented Bob with perhaps the biggest challenge of his life. It was a decision lacking guarantees of success, but one Bob never regretted and that would help equip thousands of Christian communicators to create excellent culturally relevant content to nurture the Church and influence society for Christ.

“When Jim Johnson, Jim Engel, and I planned, dreamed, and talked about forming MAI, we knew the risk was mammoth, the future and sustainability uncertain, and the support for such a program quite unknown,” Bob said in the 2010 interview. “But we also believed that God’s leading was pressing us, and that it was opportune for MAI to launch into the deep.

“We called upon God to grant wisdom and strength to begin, reminded of Paul’s words to the Church in Corinth: ‘Therefore, since we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.’”

Bob is survived by his wife, Barbara Reekie, in Palatine, IL. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 6, at 1 p.m. at Community Church of Barrington, 407 S. Grove Ave., Barrington, IL 60010 (corner of Lincoln and Grove). The service will be livestreamed on the Facebook page of the Community Church of Barrington.

 

The Crisis Publishing Initiative conference held in Chicago from June 26 to 29 was crucial as it took place in the context of the current crisis in Eastern Europe and other socio-economic, religious and health crises around the world. Experts shared their experiences on the current topic of the war in Ukraine.

Katya Yefetova shared her impressions of the 3 life-changing days in Kiev as she applied her photojournalism experience to the well-organized digital defense effort in Ukraine. Jeremy Weber and Jayson Casper (Christianity Today) shared lessons on how to cultivate local sources and discern their unique angle as they covered the war in Ukraine from afar.

With regard to words and images, Dr. Sandra Morgan described how word choice can perpetuate unnecessary stereotypes. When it comes to visually communicating the stories of vulnerable children, Sarah Gesiriech encouraged participants to avoid stereotypes and sensationalism and to consider how images and words reflect on children, families, and communities.
Furthermore, some important stories come from areas where open sharing carries risks for those denied religious freedom. While it may be necessary to hide identifying details to tell a story, our readers still need to hear how God is working in the world. The complexities of this type of reporting were addressed by several experts, including Heather Pubols and Gökhan Talas.
Several workshops dealt with misinformation, disinformation and lack of information. While these issues have always been important to journalists, the industry behind the spread of misinformation now has widespread power through social media and websites that appear legitimate. Joseph Benjamin (Gujarati Christians) and Julia Bicknell (World Watch Monitor) were among those who addressed this issue.

This conference has been an amazing opportunity to learn from and connect with international experts

“This conference has been an amazing opportunity to learn from and connect with international experts,” says Katy Causey (Compassion International). “There are also many practical tools and ideas that I can apply in my everyday work.”

About 50 journalists representing the USA, Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Ghana, Kenya, Turkey and Ukraine participated in this conference.
“I think this conference is massive,” says Dr. Akosua Frempong, an experienced print, digital and broadcast journalist and one of the speakers at the one-day workshop that followed the Crisis Publishing conference. “I say that because Sharon [Mumper, president of Magazine Training International] and the MTI team have tapped into a critical area. Crises occur in our world all the time. Just as every organization needs to be prepared for crises because they are inevitable, journalists, too, need to be prepared to report crises effectively. Preparing journalists to handle crisis reporting well is a worthy effort.”

Based in the United States, she has worked as an anchor, producer, presenter and reporter on three continents, including Africa. As a speaker, the conference helped her realize the importance of the topic.

During the workshop, journalists had the opportunity to learn which social media platforms are used by which countries to communicate quickly, accurately and reliably, and how to use digital storytelling to communicate news and feature stories. Dr. Frempong focused on the use of smartphones and social media.

“I enjoyed presenting at the Digital Journalism Workshop,” she says. “I am passionate about journalism and excited about the new phase of the profession, with the introduction of digital and social media platforms. So, for my session, I was particularly interested in how journalists could use smartphones to record sound and video and take images for their publications. Nowadays, news media organizations expect that journalists have various skills and not just one skill. Because the industry has changed and there have been some cutbacks by print media organizations, in particular, journalists must have multimedia skills, and that was one of the workshop’s aims: to train journalists to be dynamic by knowing how to use smartphones for multimedia productions. I also spoke about using social media and how to effectively communicate to your audiences through them, including in times of crisis. I emphasized the popular social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. More specifically, my session highlighted how journalists could use these three social media platforms to disseminate their content and promote their publications.”
Beyond training and knowledge sharing, the Crisis Publishing Initiative conference was an opportunity for journalists working in difficult areas to pray for each other and be encouraged.

 

 

Is it true that if you want to hide something from an African, put it in a book? This fallacy is debunked in the African Leadership Study (ALS), which provided evidence that many African Christians read quite a bit. The 2016 ALS survey, initiated by Tyndale House Foundation, was carried out in Angola, the Central Africa Republic (CAR), and Kenya to identify strategic opportunities for supporting the development of Christian leaders in Francophone, Lusophone, and Anglophone Africa.

Africans are reading. The survey shows one-third of the respondents indicated they had read at least six books in the last year, with 60% of pastors reporting they had read at least six. The survey by Pew in 2014 showed that half of American adults had read five or fewer books in the previous year. While African Christians read books at lower rates than Americans do, the difference is less than one might expect. The more pertinent question, therefore, is what Africans are reading. It is interesting to note that Tanzania , for example, has about 80 local dailies (and even half dailies) according to Dr. Sokile, a local Christian publisher. This may easily be the highest in Africa.

 

Favourite Authors

One interesting finding is that many respondents identified a favourite author whose writings are explicitly Christian, with Kenya leading at 65%, Angola at 53% and CAR at 38%. Where the favourite author was Christian, they were highly likely to be American. The chance that a favourite author from the respondent’s country was Christian was very low. They also responded that they rarely read European or American authors who are not Christians. Only 9.5% identified favourite authors who were both African and Christian, begging the question, where are the African Christian writers?

So, even though a high proportion of African Christians named a favourite author who was African, and a large proportion of African Christians named a favourite author who was Christian, in the survey, only a small percentage of African Christians named a favourite author who was both African and Christian. African writers have provided an extensive body of literature that is not explicitly Christian, but an otherwise vibrant African Christianity has not produced the literature that African Christians seemingly desire and need. What are the factors contributing to this?

One factor is that favourite authors come from the list of books assigned for government schools to read. This exposes the author to a broad readership and increases their chances of being selected as a favourite author. While Christian educational institutions do not function under such a list, the books stocked in theological libraries similarly signal the importance of an author. The curriculum and the libraries of these institutions provide less support and exposure to African authors than do government schools.

In addition to the lack of placement in libraries and bookstores (both Christian and nonreligious booksellers), they also lack visibility and publicity on radio and television. A perusal of a Christian TV Channel showed that most of the speakers featured were American religious personalities. These are the same ones who top the list of favourite authors. Where there was an option for a book or author to be featured, the costs were prohibitive. These are some, among other factors, elaborated on in the ALS report.

What Does it Matter?

Prof. Jesse Mugambi, a long-time publisher and theologian, has asked, “How can Africa’s youth develop new insights to solve problems in the context of its own culture, while it is mostly presented with literature coming from other cultures?” The chapter of the ALS on ‘Reading and Leading’ concludes with proposed commitments that must be made in light of Jesse Mugambi’s words: The time has come for Africa’s elite to market their contribution toward shaping the future of this continent through publication of the knowledge and experience accumulated at home and abroad. You can find these commitments and other findings of the survey in the African Christian Leadership book.

Africa Speaks is structuring itself to provide discoverability for African Christian Authors in two ways; one, by providing a comprehensive database of leading Christian authors in each country and secondly, feature best-selling titles each year on our website, in the near future. A few weeks ago we shared a list from Dr. Harvey Kwiyani of some of the excellent books written by Africans about Africa here.

Sign up here to keep up to date with what is happening in matters Christian publishing in Africa.

 

The Need

Did you know there are 300 million French speakers worldwide today, up almost 10% since 2014, and a recent survey showed that 44% of them live in sub-Saharan Africa?

“French-speaking Africa is known for its material poverty. One element of this poverty is the lack of Christian literature resources in the French language. The need for French-language Bible study materials is, and remains to be, an even more profound source of poverty for the region.” These are Daniel Bourdanne’s words as he emphasized the importance of translating the Africa Study Bible into French.

 

 

Presses Bibliques Africaines

Working to meet this need is Presses Bibliques Africaines (PBA) the 2019 recipient of the Robert B. Reekie Global Publisher Award, an annual award by Media Associates International (MAI) recognizing ministry excellence by a Christian publisher serving in a challenging context. PBA is the publishing house of the GBUAF (Groupes Bibliques Universitaires d’Afrique Francophone), the IFES student ministry in Francophone Africa. GBUAF covers 19 countries and PBA distributes books in all those countries.

PBA was started in 1985 in Abidjan and after 22 years moved to Benin. The vision of the publishing house is to transform French-speaking readership with quality Christian literature produced by Africans. PBA authors must be Africans, and their writing must not lean towards a specific denomination.

 

FACTS
Full Name	Presses Bibliques Africaines
Country	Benin
Year started	1985
Manager	Georges Late
Publishing Language	French
Countries covered	19
Titles published to date	130
Fun fact	Operated from Abidjan for the first 22 years
International awards	2019 Robert B. Reekie Global Publisher Award (MAI)
Affiliation	IFES-GBUAF (Groupes Bibliques Universitaires d’Afrique Francophone)

 

The Work

In 2017 and 2018, ten titles were published each year, nine in 2019, seven in 2020 and eight in 2021. Five books were reprinted in that period, and the plan is to publish 12 books this year. The books are printed in Europe (Island of Malta, France) with the number of books printed raging from 1,000 – 5000 copies. The publishing is staffed by 4 permanent staff and has a general Christian readership cutting across churches, pastors, leaders, youth, women, academics, researchers, students and IFES staff.

 

 

Georges Late, the PBA Manager sees the difficulty in convincing people from an oral context to buy and read books as a big challenge of publishing in Francophone Africa. With regards to the prevalence of poor literature that is not consistent with the right Christian doctrine, he says “we have a responsibility to provide good literature at an affordable price, which is not easy.” The distribution of books published in the west for free has entrenched the mindset that Christian books must be free and African Christians seem unwilling to finance books’ production. This contributes to constant cash flow problems for the publishers.

The book is a true missionary that has no borders

 

The Challenges

Having been within the publishing industry for 13 years now, he knows well the challenges of being put on the job without basic training and identifies staff training as critical for a well-qualified team necessary to improve production quality. Being part of a network of African Christian publishers will be beneficial for publishing houses like PBA. “We have always sought opportunities to work in collaboration with older publishing houses to learn from them and be inspired by their success.”

 

Looking To The Future

In a parting shot Georges says, “If we are networked, we will be even stronger and more resilient in the face of the many challenges that try to wipe out small publishing houses.”
A core conviction of Africa Speaks is that a flourishing Christian publishing industry in Africa is an important component of fulfilling the mission of God and will benefit the people of Africa and the whole world and thus the urgency to fulfil our mandate to call all players to join us in the strengthening of a flourishing Christian Publishing industry in Africa.

 

 

“I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done”.
James Hudson Taylor

Research shows there is no continent with less publishing than Africa. There is a huge unsatisfied need for books for its vast population of 1.2 billion people spread over 54 countries. Who is better placed to meet this need than authors, publishers, trainers in publishing, printers and marketers of Christian literature on the continent?

To kickstart the process of answering this question, a survey on the status of Christian publishing in Africa was commissioned. Concluded in March 2017, 292 respondents from 51 countries (42 in Africa), were interviewed. Though the majority were English speaking, a third were French and six per cent, Portuguese. Pastors and those in church leadership positions were in the majority. Others were lecturers or students in higher education, bookshop owners, librarians, a good number of authors, publishers, and staff in Christian organisations. Lamentably, very few had read books written by African authors.

 

Number of Publishers

The survey reported more publishers on the continent than expected but not all of them publish titles every year and there were plenty of inactive websites. Self-publishing is growing and so is reading on electronic devices – especially in Lusophone Africa. As would be expected; while most of the respondents read books written in English, they also read in more than fifty other languages.

 

The Cost of Books

The cost of books remains the primary inhibitor to book purchasing. Logistics add substantially to prices. Shipping costs, are high and landlocked countries face particular challenges of corruption at border points and failed infrastructure.

An additional problem is the lack of foreign exchange and its high cost. For example, there is no Africa-based Lusophone Christian publisher. Angola is Portuguese-speaking and oil is its primary export. Thus, a drop in oil prices results in a substantial reduction of foreign exchange needed to import Portuguese-language books from Brazil, the country where most Lusophone titles originate.

There is no Africa-based Lusophone Christian publisher

Of great encouragement is the many leaders eager to see publishing flourish. Some of these include; Kahindo Katavo of the Baptist Community Center for Africa in Congo; Dr. Jules Ouoba Center for Evangelical Publications of Côte d’Ivoire, Dr. Barine Kirimi of Publishing Institute of Africa in Kenya, and Lawrence Dharmani of STEP Publishers in Ghana; all seeking to establish Africa owned book distribution.

 

Lack of Authors

In addition to high prices, logistics, and high or unstable foreign exchange rates, a lack of authors was reported as an inhibitor to African publishing. There are many people who wish to write including leaders of major ministries and denominations. It can be argued that the lack of authors is tied to the lack of publishers and that once publishers are established on the continent, authors from Africa will write.

 

The Future

While the problems facing African publishers are not new, there are new solutions. Logistical issues are overcome by printing locally (POD) and by the growth in the usage of smartphones (eBooks). There is a growing pool of potential authors. For example, there are 350 Africa Study Bible writers. These things indicate that this time, more than any other, is ripe for the birth of a robust African publishing industry.

And thus, in March 2018 – Africa Speaks was born! Leaders committed to seeing a flourishing publishing industry in Africa, 48 men and women from across Africa and the world, met at Trinity University in Bannockburn, Illinois. They created and signed the Africa Speaks Accord, defining their mission to facilitate a network of like-minded persons and organisations who will commit to working together to foster a flourishing African publishing industry for the enrichment of the Church and society in Africa and throughout the world.

This community welcomes those who work in some aspect of the publishing profession in Africa to join as full participants; or as associates due to their interest in some aspect of the publishing profession including an interest in literature and reading in general. With cooperation, we can live to see this great work of God – a flourishing Christian publishing industry in Africa – turn from impossible, through difficult to eventually being done!

When a goat is present, one must not bleat in its place

(Malian Proverb)

The absence of writing from Africa has often been confused for ignorance. Knowledge is, however, not always found in writing just as age does not always equate with wisdom. Africa has a rich oral tradition, but oral history fades with time. While oral cultures are great for sharing wisdom about life, (e.g. through proverbs), they are not the best for recording history, says Harvey Kwiyani, a lecturer in African History and Theology. He is passionate about Africans writing theology in an accessible way, and Africa Speaks caught up with him for recommendations on books written about Africa by Africans. He tried to be as representative of the continent as possible, and below is a list of his recommendations.

How many of them will you read within 2022?

The Resilient Christian Leader book was released on Thursday, 16th December 2021, in a face-to-face event in Nairobi, with many others across the world following along on the African Christian Leaders online platform.

In the words of the editor Dr. Kirimi Barine, the book is a resource to encourage Christian leaders on the continent as they navigate through the unprecedented times brought about by the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. This collaborative effort, from the core team that developed the African Leadership Study launched in 2016, brought together a team of 30 people, a mix of scholars and practitioners, drawn from across the continent.

The chapter concepts were researched and developed by; Daniel Dama of Benin, Dr Joanna Ilboudo of Burkina Faso, Yolande Sandoua of Central Africa Republic, Nupanga Weanzana of DR Congo, Mandonda Mgomezulu of Eswatini, David Ngaruiya, Dr. Florence Muindi, Gakii Dominica and Rev. Purity Murungi of Kenya, Antoine Rutayasire of Rwanda, and Dr. John Jusu of Sierra Leone. With a foreword by H.E. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, this book shares experiences, strategies, and opportunities with the leaders of the continent as they lead during and after the crisis. It focuses on eight spheres of influence including, family, church, media, and the government.

The book is available on Amazon and Publishing Institute of Africa.

A book is more than just a commodity for sale, it is first and foremost an inner passion. The spark that will ignite a revolution in the book industry in Africa, will not be a technological skill, easy transportation, or a stable currency. These things will certainly be useful tools if they are well understood and harnessed strategically for the book industry.

A book is more than just a commodity for sale, it is first and foremost an inner passion

The decisive factor will be the inner movement which is a passion for books; that prompts people to read, write, and dream up books in different forms and formats. It is this passion on the inside that can ‘contaminate’ Africa, posited Daniel Bourdanné, it is not what comes from the outside that contaminates. What contaminates, comes from the inside out – paraphrasing Jesus from Mark 7:14, at the first Africa Speaks Consultation in 2018.

When I started restructuring the PBA (Presses Bibliques Africaines), I had no capital. But something drove me on – a passion for books. I deeply believed in books as agents of change, training, encounters with people, dialogue, gateways to life, a sure path to transformation. I went into debt to produce my first book. Thankfully I was able to repay the debt in a short time even with little experience and no training in publishing.

To produce my first magazine, I enlisted the help of four other friends. I convinced them to put some of their money into it. We scraped together some contributions to run the first issue of the magazine. The magazine survived, debt-free until the group broke up as people began moving elsewhere. I double-hatted as the administrator and left the money collected in the magazine’s account when we closed it. When problems arose, we were ready to re-invest. We never depended on external aid save for an 80-dollar gift we received once from some missionaries.

We never depended on external aid save for an 80-dollar gift we received once from some missionaries.

What we African publishing players need to do, first and foremost, is grow the passion for books in us. I would describe this passion as a calling. The word “calling” is pregnant with meaning. It refers to something that dwells deep within and drives us, such that we keep pressing ahead even in the face of difficulty. There is no denying that the meaning of the word “calling” tends to wane and shrink as the Christian arena becomes increasingly professionalized. However, the fact remains that as players of Africa’s book industry, we need to have a calling.

Be it in written or oral form, electronic or any other format, produced using print on demand technology or through more conventional methods; we must love books and nurture a love for them. This passion and love of books must give rise to a hymn to the joy of reading, writing, and explaining the art of storytelling. Africa will not have its book publishing revolution until we win the battle of loving books; of reconciling orality and writing.

Africa will not have its book publishing revolution until we win the battle of loving books

Africa is made up of community people who want to meet each other. We ought to read in order to meet each other. Written or oral accounts of curious events work better – not necessarily because they are better written, or are literary masterpieces; but because people get connected through their stories. So, we meet to share these stories and spread them by word of mouth. What do people do with their mobile phones? They share interesting tidbits, things said on YouTube.

I personally own three physical libraries which contain hundreds and sometimes thousands of books, each. There is one library in my home, one in my office, and one back in Ivory Coast. Someone once asked me what I will do with my books when I return to Africa or when I move. But for me, even with the space issue, any suggestion to discard my books is insulting. The books in my library are generally in good condition. It pains me deeply to see someone open a book and fold it in two.

I personally own three physical libraries which contain hundreds and sometimes thousands of books, each… even with the space issue, any suggestion to discard my books is insulting

But why such a great love for books? The Frenchman, Jacques Chancel, loved to say: “Let there be no doubt about it, it is books that beam the small lights that are able to inform the world, that light candles which serve as benchmarks, markers, that give warning to tyrants and weak people…”.

Does this quotation from Jacques Chancel not take us, as Christians, back to Psalms 119:105; “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path”? For Christians, books are life because the word is eternal life. Christianity is the religion of the book. We are people of the book. The book is about transformation. Books shift centers of power to the fringes. They lessen the dangers of ignorance.

Books shift centers of power to the fringes. They lessen the dangers of ignorance.

Those who come into publishing: writers, publishers, producers, printers must come chiefly motivated by this inner passion for books as a means of transforming Africa. It is this passion that motivates, inspires, equips people with grit, resilience, and creativity.