“I also spoke to writers who were told that the idea of a football-loving Pakistani kid living in Brixton and listening to Mozart was ‘hard to believe’ so they had to change these things to reflect white stereotypes, As a result, black and Asian authors are turning to the US and the Indian subcontinent to get book deals for books that don’t pander to stereotypes.”
Western publishing is out of step with a real world that is very mixed, global and diverse
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf
As a counterpoint to these stereotypes, in April the UK literary scene will welcome a new publisher of fiction by African writers.
Cassava Republic Press, which has already been operating successfully in Nigeria for ten years, will be launching a range of new publications including contemporary Nigeria-set novel Born on a Tuesday by Elnathan John, Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s thoughtful literary novel Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun and Leye Adenle’s Lagos-set crime novel Easy Motion Tourist. I’m also very excited by Season of Crimson Blossoms by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, the tale of an illicit affair between a 55-year-old widow and a 25-year-old street gang leader.
Cassava Republic Press founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf is based in London and is working on the UK launch with Emma Shercliff, formerly of Macmillan and Hodder, currently in Nigeria.
Bakare-Yusuf comments: “Western publishing is out of step with a real world that is very mixed, global and diverse. Publishing is civilisation-building. Sometimes, builders of civilisation can forget to innovate, to experiment and to feel the pulse of what’s going on around them.
“If publishing is to continue to be relevant, civilisation-shaping, it must come to terms with the hybrid and multi-tongued world we live in. The world has so many cultural outputs competing for our attention and money, the only way to stay relevant is to mix up and be polyrhythmic.”
