Culture Craze

Africa’s Untold Stories Could Be the Key to a Publishing Boom

Published

2 months ago

July 7, 2025

Chiraag

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A new UNESCO report suggests that embracing African languages in publishing could transform the continent’s book industry and its future.

Imagine a child in Limpopo or Lagos eager to read but unable to find a single book in the language spoken at home. Now imagine the same child holding a book written in isiXhosa, Yoruba, or Wolof, filled with characters that look and sound like them, telling stories that feel like home. This, UNESCO says, is not just a dream. It is an untapped billion-dollar opportunity.

According to a groundbreaking report released this week, Africa’s publishing sector is sitting on a goldmine. The industry is currently worth around $7 billion. But if African nations invest in homegrown stories and support local-language publishing, it could triple to a whopping $18 billion.

The benefits would stretch far beyond economics. It is about preserving heritage, boosting literacy, and giving young Africans the chance to see their worlds reflected in print.

The numbers tell a story of potential

Africa has more than 6,400 publishers and produces roughly 86,000 new book titles a year. It also boasts 8,000 public libraries and a vibrant calendar of 270 book festivals. Yet, despite this foundation, most books on the shelves are still imported and in English, French, or Portuguese.

That is a major disconnect in a continent where over 2,000 languages are spoken every day.

UNESCO’s report, The African Book Industry: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities for Growth, pulls no punches. It shows that while the continent is bursting with creativity, it lacks the infrastructure, investment, and government backing to support a thriving local-language publishing ecosystem.

Caroline Munier, a culture programme specialist at UNESCO, called the rise of digital platforms in Africa a “transformative” trend, especially among young publishers. But she also made it clear that without readers, “you do not have a book industry.”

What is missing from the story?

School publishing already accounts for 70 percent of the African book market, no surprise given that Africa is home to 329 million pupils. In fact, if African governments focused on producing schoolbooks in local languages, that alone could generate $13 billion in revenue.

But the challenges are real. Local publishers face sky-high printing costs, limited state support, and competition from global educational giants. Legal frameworks like copyright enforcement are shaky at best. Distribution is also a headache. As Senegalese publisher Souleymane Gueye put it, “Books are published here, but how do we get them to readers 200 kilometres away?”

Many publishing professionals rely on informal networks to get books from printers into the hands of readers, especially in rural or remote areas. That is not sustainable.

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Image 1: Pexels

Rewriting the future in our own languages

There is hope and growing momentum.

Local publishers are starting to invest more in children’s books, comics, and graphic novels. African stories are being adapted into films. Book fairs are drawing crowds in Accra, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and beyond.

But UNESCO’s call to action is clear. Africa must do more to support its own storytellers. That includes investing in rural libraries, building more bookstores, supporting digital publishing, and, perhaps most importantly, publishing in the languages people actually speak at home.

This is not just about economics or industry trends. It is about cultural dignity, identity, and the right of every child to read a story that feels familiar.

A literary legacy within reach

Africa is rich in stories, from folktales whispered under night skies to sharp political satire, romance, fantasy, and everything in between. But until those stories are given space in print and in the languages of the people who live them, the continent’s literary legacy remains unfinished.

As the world mourns literary icons like Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who dedicated his life to writing in his native Gikuyu, this moment feels particularly urgent. There is power in language, not just to tell stories but to shape futures.

If governments rise to the occasion and back their local writers and publishers, Africa could not only own a larger slice of the global publishing pie but also ensure that its people see themselves in the pages they turn.

And that, UNESCO reminds us, is a story worth telling.