Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith

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African Authors

... have this problem where they can only sell stories that white people like.

Fuck that noise.  I like my literature with diversity.  I grew up reading books that got me kicked out of class.  We need small press and crowdfunding and other alternative options so that writers can write in their own voice and culture without being stifled.  Tell ALL the stories!
Tags: cyberfunded creativity, economics, editing, ethnic studies, networking, reading, writing
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  • 2 comments

thnidu

November 30 2014, 23:34:14 UTC 6 years ago Edited:  December 1 2014, 03:37:45 UTC

I agree. But part of the problem is that “We They haven't the tools to make the tools to make the tools”: i.e., missing infrastructure. Nwaubani says in that article

Any Nigerian in Anchorage or Newcastle-upon-Tyne who so wishes can acquire my novel. But here in my country, where online shopping is still an esoteric venture (and where many websites reject payment cards attached to Nigerian addresses), my book is available only at a few bookstores in highbrow areas of about five cities. It is not available in Umuahia, the capital city of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria, where I grew up, where my parents live, and where my novel is set. The struggling local publishing industry is unable to make books available and affordable.


Until African writers can start their careers by publishing in their home countries, none of this will change. Some of the greatest African writers of my generation may never be discovered, either because they will not reach across the Atlantic Ocean to attract the attention of an agent or publisher, or because they have not yet mastered the art of deciphering Western tastes.


Crowdfunding? Not for a while, in the current web-based model. Small press? That "small" may still be impossible, except perhaps in (some of) those cities.