Edition: Slight increase in publications in Morocco; works in Arabic prevail
Moroccan editorial activity for 2018/2019 has increased slightly, according to the annual report released by the King Abdul Aziz Al-Saoud Foundation for Islamic Studies and Human Sciences on the eve of the opening of the International Book and Publishing Fair (SIEL), held in Casablanca Feb.6 to 16.
Over 4,200 documents (books, journals and digital publications) were recorded during 2018/2019. 79.69% of the publications in the fields covered by the report, namely human and social sciences and literature, are produced and disseminated in paper format, according to the report.
The digital publishing is however making a real breakthrough, with an increase of 12%, or 857 titles listed. This production remains, for the most part, the work of public establishments, even if the contributions of certain foundations and cultural associations participate in the Arabization of this production and extend it beyond the economic and financial fields, to other fields of sciences such as history, philosophy, religion, added the report.
Most of those who write and publish do so in the Arabic language. With 3,312 titles (print and digital / books and magazines), this production represents 78.50% of all the titles listed. And if production in French has increased in quantity with 675 titles against 485 the previous year, it is far from reversing the trend marked by the decline of French compared to the decades after independence (1960-1980).
There are also 72 publications in English, 45 in Amazigh, 13 in Spanish, one in Portuguese and one in German.
Editorial production in the Amazigh language amounted to 45 works representing only 1.22% of all titles published, the report noted.
There were also 72 publications in English, 13 in Spanish, one in Portuguese and one in German.
The report criticized the lack of importance given to Moroccan writers, noting that 25% of them are forced to bear the cost of printing and publishing their intellectual productions. As a result, their works remain limited to the inner circle of their city and their relatives and acquaintances.
Among the publications of 2018-2019, 736 were funded by their authors.
The Al Saoud Foundation report also specified that 83% of the works were written by men, compared to 17% produced by women.
Over 700 exhibitors from Morocco, Africa, Europe, Asia and America, are participating in the Casablanca book fair, displaying more than 100,000 works.
This year Mauritania, the land of 1000 poets, is celebrated as the guest of honor.
