ISSUE NUMBER ONE* 1997 Bellagio in Accra Katherine Salahi OOKS w e re b n e ws on Ghana Radio in the run-up to the first Ghana International Book Fair held in Accra between No- vember 6-12, 1996. And so, briefly, was the Bellagio Group, whose presence dur- ing the fair was broadcast hourly as one of the line-up of distinguished visitors expected to attend. The programme was packed with e v e n t s - s e m i n a rs organised by APNET on scholarly pub- lishing and F r a n c o p h o n e- Anglophone coopera- tion, the Noma Award prize giving ceremony, Pan-Afri- can Writers Associa- tion lectures, ABC Council of Manage- ment and APNET Board meetings, as well as the Bellagio meetings, not to men- tion the Book Fair it- self. So much activity meant a great deal of networking could go on between publish- ers, which after all was the main pur- pose. It was a lively, busy, sometimes frus- trating, but never dull week. The Bellagio meetings began with a briefing by Nige- rian and Ghanaian publishers on the state of publishing in their respective coun- tries. Current presi- dent of the Nigerian Publishers Associa- tion (NPA) Lawal- Solarin highlighted the overall shortage of books available to students at all levels, the dominance of multinational over local publishers, and the lack of govern- mental support for Nigerian publishing. On the brighter side, he reported on APNET's training programme with NPA, and the activi- ties of other associa- tions, concluding that the figure looks good, especially as Nigeria into the moves market economy. Chukwuemeka Ike described the work of one of the supporting associations, the non- governmental, non- profit Nigerian Book Foundation. The Ghana Book Publishers Associa- tion (GBPA) lacks adequate govern- ment support, ac- cording to the imme- diate past president Eric Ofei of Afram Publications. The Ministry of Educa- tion competes with local publishers. But the government also supports the Publish- ers Association. GBPA members are working hard to in- fluence government policy and are upbeat about prospects for improvements, with their sights set on an official national book policy. The Bellagio Group's roundtable theme was on the sig- nificance of holding and running book fairs. Aig Higo, chair- man of Heinemann Nigeria spoke on 'The usefulness of book fairs to African pub- lishers' provoking lively though some- times unfocused dis- cussion on book fairs. Higo's claim that book fairs are a for- eign import was countered by Tade Aina of CODESRIA, who argued that the concept of book fairs- the marketplace-is not unAfrican. David Martin of Zimbabwe Publishing House presented a paper on 'Zimbabwe Interna- tional Book Fair (ZIBF), past, present and future.' Martin was a major force be- hind ZIBF in the early days but re- signed when the fair began charging entry fees. He criticized the fair's 'Frankfurt of Africa' label as in- dicative of a tendency to look toward Eu- rope rather than Af- rica. The current fair is in his view too do- nor-driven and too packed with meet- ings. His views were supported by some, hotly contested by, others: among APNET Chairman Victor Nwankwo, 'What's wrong with "Frankfurt of Africa9" It brings people to- gether' Rockefeller Foundation repre- sentative Damien Pwono, 'If donors have distorted ZIBF, document it;' and Walter Bgoya, 'no problem with too many meetings, you don't have to go to them all!' After a presenta- tion on the Nairobi- based Pan-African Children's Book Fair by Mary Bugembe, Ian Randle of Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica talked about South- South cooperation. He spoke, from a po- sition of envy, as there are no book fairs in the Carib- bean. He would like to see regional book fairs in Africa work toward a more inter- national perspective, and Southern pub- lishers make a great impact at Northern book fairs. He urged publishers to be more selective about which fairs they attend, but also advocated pa- tience in assessing their value. His first visit to the Zimbabwe Book Fair, he said, did not achieve tan- gible short-term ben- efits, but was impor- tant in paving the way for further visits where he did good business. Since the meeting coincided with the Ghana Book Fair it was only fitting that the final session was a hot-off-the-press evaluation of the fair Glailara Baaks Supplement 22 ISSUE NUMBER ONE • 1997 < < by Richard Crabbe of the Ghana Book Publishers Associa- tion and Prince Quarcoo, commercial director of the Ghana Trade Fair Authority, who organized the book fair. Of particu- lar interest to many of those present was the extent of local sponsorship the book fair had received, a welcome departure from reliance on ex- ternal support. The fair had not been without its problems and evaluating suc- cess in terms of busi- ness would have to wait till after the event, but many were optimistic. Some ideas for action emerging from the roundtable included a feasibility study for a pan-Afri- can book fair, a 'how it's done' handbook for fair organizers, evaluations of exist- ing book fairs includ- ing the level and im- pact of donor involve- ment, and a brochure from the Ghana In- ternational Book Fair of the local business sponsorship they re- ceived, to help with future promotion in Accra, and as a guide for other fairs. The following day, the Bellagio Publish- ing Network and the donors Bellagio their group held regular business meeting; Reports from the Secretariat, ABC, and APNET were presented and discussed. The vari- ous newsletters in circulation - APNET's African Publishing Review, the Bellagio Publishing Network Newsletter, and CODE Europe's Part- ners in Publishing - were discussed with the aim of avoiding unnecessary duplica- tion. Ruth Makotsi and Henry Chakava reported on the suc- cess of their recent book week in Kenya, sponsored by SIDA. The Heinrich Boll Foundation were welcomed as new do- to APNET, nors training whose programme they have agreed to sup- port over the next three years. The Bellagio meetings in Ghana were by broad agree- ment less satisfac- tory than previous meetings. As a result, we held a review of our work soon after- wards. Part of the reason for the sense of dissatisfaction was that the wealth of other book-related activities on offer in Accra during the book fair competed for people's attention. This is in itself a wel- come reflection of progress since the Bellagio Group first started to meet. Ac- tivities the Bellagio has previ- ously facilitated are now run by APNET. Quite rightly so. that Katherine Salahi runs the Bellagio Secretariat in Oxford. Forty years of Nigerian Art Journals pat national, c/o Limerock Books, 41 Perry Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06856. USA. OR Within Nigeria: Glendora International, P.O.Box 50914, Falomo, Lagos. Agufon: 1997. 6 issues per year. 26 pages. US and Europe: $30. Nigeria: N600. Cheques fce; Agufon Publications, P.O.Box 5308, Surulere, Lagos. Journals devoted to art have appeared sporadically in Nigeria during the past four decades: Black Orpheus, grandfa- ther of them all, started publi- cation in 1957. Although origi- nally defined as a 'Journal of African and Afro-American lit- erature', it soon carried articles on the visual arts. With bold, dramatic covers designed ini- tially by Suzanne Wenger and later by Demas Nwoko, and black and white photographs illustrating the articles on art, Black Orpheus had an editorial board whose members are now icons of Black literature - Leopold Sedar Senghor, Aime Cesaire, Chinua Achebe, John Pepper Clark, Gabriel Okara, Christopher Okigbo and Wole Soyinka. By the time Volume 2 appeared in 1968, Black Orpheus was re- defined as a 'Journal of the Arts from Africa.' New Culture appeared in 1978 under the aegis of the artist, Demas Nwoko. It em- braced the plastic and per- forming arts with the addi- tion of a children's section containing stories and a page in colour. Kurio Africana in 1989. Moyo Okediji, formerly of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and leader of the Ona group of artists, started Kurio Africana, a journal dealing exclusively with the visual arts, particularly those of Ni- geria. Modest in format (the early were editions Black Orpheus: 1957- 1976. New Culture: 1978-1980. Kario Africana: 1989 on- wards. Apply to: The Editor, Kario Africana, Dept. of Fine Art, O.A.U., Ile-Ife. The Eye: 1992 onwards. 2 issues per year. 48 pages. No price stated. Apply to: The Secretary, The Eye, P.O.Box 1411, Zaria, Nigeria. Uso: 1992 onwards. 2 is- sues per year. 76 pages. US $25 or $30. UK £15 or £20. Nigeria N650 or N700 (insti- tutions). Add $10 or N100 per annum for postage. Cheques to: Uso, National Gallery of Art, P.M.B. 3001, Surulere, Lagos. Glendora: 1995 onwards, 4 issues per year. Pages vary from 86 to 124 per issue. US $24 or $40. Europe £20 or £36. Nigeria N1.200 or N1.500 (Institutions). Add $7 or £5 per issue for postage. Cheques to: Glendora Inter- Glendora Books Supplement 23