More than 200 people from 40 countries attended the International Publishers Association's Africa Rising summit on June 13 and 14 in Nairobi. The event featured panel discussions and presentations on the challenges of professional publishing, both trade and educational, in Africa.
Among the topics addressed were opportunities for innovation in print and digital publishing; the need for more investment, public and private; and the need to establish piracy and copyright protections. Cultural projects discussed included prioritizing publishing in indigenous languages in order to increase literacy, promoting free speech, and decolonizing existing institutions, such as textbook publishers and libraries-all of which are in various states of development by local African publishers and institutions, now with the additional support of the IPA.
