Publishers’ associations from Africa and the Caribbean joined the International Publishers Association at its international congress on October 15, 2021.
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is the world’s largest federation of national, regional and specialist publishers’ associations, comprising dozens of organisations from 60 countries across six continents. It was founded in 1896 to promote and protect publishing and to raise awareness for publishing in the context of economic, cultural and political development. The IPA actively opposes censorship and promotes copyright, literacy and the freedom to publish, and represents the interests of the publishing industry at international level.
The organisation hosted its second consecutive virtual General Assembly with all its members in attendance in the middle of October. Burhan Sönmez, the new President of PEN International, was one of the guests and he spoke of the shared role of authors and publishers for freedom of expression.
Another of the highlights was the federation welcoming new member organisations to its fold while upgrading those who had been provisional members to full membership. This was done with votes of 54 members of the association voting on the applications. Here are the new members and their status changes within the IPA that you would have an interest in;
Provisional Members:
- Sudanese Publishers Association (SPU)
Full members (transition from provisional membership)
- Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ)
- Ghana Publishers Association (GPA)
- Libyan Publishers Union (LPU)
- Somali Publishers Association (SPA)
Reacting to the votes, IPA President Bodour Al Qasimi said: We are delighted to welcome 3 new members into the IPA and see 4 provisional members become full members and, as a result, increase their engagement in the international publishing community. These last 18 months have presented different challenges to many parts of our sector and these moments where we can come together, even virtually, are so powerful.
Apart from the associations, Maxwell Wahome was elected to the membership committee of the IPA.
Leave a Reply