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Documenting Kano ‘Market’ Literature

Documenting Kano ‘Market’ Literature From the earliest period of the production of printed Roman script books in the north of Nigeria, a primary concern was the economics of book production. The conundrum was how to break out of the ‘chicken and egg situation’ whereby it was not possible to ‘create’ a reading public unless there were sufficient, affordable, and readable books that a potential reader would want to read; on the other hand, without an existing commercial market for books, how could any publisher continue to publish? (East 1943). The main government-funded agency, the Northern Region Literature Agency (NORLA), that undertook the publication of the overwhelming majority of Hausa language books in the 1950s (Skinner 1970), was forced to close when its losses became unsustainable. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Bibliography Cambridge University Press

Documenting Kano ‘Market’ Literature

Africa Bibliography , Volume 1998: 1 – Mar 16, 2011
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Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2000
ISSN
0266-6731
eISSN
1757-1642
DOI
10.1017/S0266673100006565
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

From the earliest period of the production of printed Roman script books in the north of Nigeria, a primary concern was the economics of book production. The conundrum was how to break out of the ‘chicken and egg situation’ whereby it was not possible to ‘create’ a reading public unless there were sufficient, affordable, and readable books that a potential reader would want to read; on the other hand, without an existing commercial market for books, how could any publisher continue to publish? (East 1943). The main government-funded agency, the Northern Region Literature Agency (NORLA), that undertook the publication of the overwhelming majority of Hausa language books in the 1950s (Skinner 1970), was forced to close when its losses became unsustainable.

Journal

Africa Bibliography – Cambridge University Press

Published: Mar 16, 2011

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