SILEJ: The field of Moroccan publishing lacks figures and statistics (conference)

by times news cr

2024-05-11 09:59:12

During this conference organized under the theme ”Publishing children’s books: Revealing figures and facts”, the speakers indicated that access to information from the various players in children’s literature remains very difficult, while the Statistics relating to publications intended for young audiences constitute a very useful development indicator for those involved in this field of publishing.

Speaking on this occasion, Nadia Essalmi, founder of the Moroccan publishing house Yomad, noted that in the book industry, “the statistics that we find are generally false, since we do not control the industry.” regretting that as publishers “the only figure we are sure of is the number of books produced, we do not know how many children’s books are sold”.

One of the reasons for this is the distribution circuit, she explained, stressing that distributors are not interested in the meager profit they generate from Moroccan books, since Moroccan publishing houses are fighting to lower the price of children’s books, in order to make them available to “small budgets”.

Ms. Essalmi, in this sense, pointed out that the distributor is the link between the publisher and the reader, noting that if this link is not made, “we cannot say that children’s books do not sell or that Moroccans don’t read.

For his part, the president of the Moroccan Association of Publishers, Camille Hoballah, maintained that bookstores also play an important role in this area, since they do not promote Moroccan children’s books, noting that Moroccan books are found in most cases at the back of bookstores at best, while in other cases they are not even unpacked from their boxes.

He noted that foreign books are better promoted by booksellers because the profit margin is much greater than for Moroccan books, noting that Moroccans are nevertheless starting to be more and more interested in Moroccan books.

According to Mr. Hobballah, this change is due to the interest that Moroccan readers have in their culture, stressing that to guarantee the success of Moroccan children’s books, it would be necessary to create a real culture of publishing Moroccan heritage, such as tales and fantastic stories.

”To build reading in children, you have to start with their environment,” he said, specifying that schools should take this into consideration before moving towards universal literature.

Furthermore, Hassan Id Brahim, researcher in children’s literature, explained that the evolution of the children’s literature sector in Morocco results in a great effort in publication, as well as in the writing and professionalization of Moroccan publishers, adding that these developments are notable in terms of themes, genre and content such as illustration.

And to conclude, that Morocco and particularly the children’s literature sector is cruelly lacking in illustrators, also noting the lack of training in this area.

Organized by the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, in partnership with the prefecture of Casablanca, the Council of the city of Casablanca as well as the Council of the Casablanca-Settat region, SILEJ seeks to restore the taste for reading to young people and children.

This book event also seeks to promote the book industry, particularly publishing aimed at young people and children, while offering cultural programming combining business with pleasure through workshops, conferences and performances. It also aims to promote the image of Casablanca as a cultural destination.

The show, which continues until November 22 at Park Anfa, includes seven large exhibition rooms, in addition to spaces dedicated to cultural activities as well as a space reserved for drawings and paintings. The show will bring together no less than 255 exhibitors representing 33 countries for a total of more than 100,000 copies of books on display.

2024-05-11 09:59:12

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