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Homebru 2006 - Celebrate South Africa!Michelle Matthews at the launch of Homebru 2006Good morning booksellers, publishers and press I’m Michelle Matthews, Publishing Manager of Oshun Books One of the reasons I was asked to speak today is that I recently visited the UK as part of the British Council’s International Young Publisher of the Year programme. One of the great things I came back with was the confirmation of what a vibrant publishing industry we have in the developing countries. Sure, we have our challenges, but in Lithuania there are no bookstores and not one written form of Arabic to publish in; in Omar there are 800 printing presses printing religious material, but only one pictorial book celebrating the beauty of the country; in Colombia the unrelenting drug wars continually erode literacy. We live in a great country where we have the capacity to rise to our challenges. The other thing I came back with was a heightened appreciation for our bookseller trade, and for our main chain, Exclusive Books. In the UK the big booksellers’ idea of a promotion is a 3-for-2 dump bin. They would never reserve their choice space for anything other than blockbusters – whereas here – and Hyde Park is a prime example – you can see that front-of-store and pagoda space is generously given to those … “difficult” local titles. I’d like to thank Exclusive Books for the effort and care with which they have selected this Homebru list. What makes me really happy about the 2006 Homebru list is that half of the books are by women. And women are Oshun’s speciality. Last year the Oshun Homebru title was Lebo Mashile’s poetry collection In a Ribbon of Rhythm. In the UK, big poetry publishers such as Faber & Faber and Carcanet were amazed to hear that we’d sold 1 500 copies of a poetry book! Homebru undoubtedly contributed to the spreading of Lebo’s remarkable voice. This year, Melinda Ferguson will be celebrated through Homebru with the Oshun title Smacked. Her voice is so brave and it’s important that it’s heard. It’s heartening to see these women, and all the others on the list, recognised. In the UK, the Orange Prize recognises women who write novels in English. The award has been controversial, with some commentators saying it puts a deserved spotlight on women writers and others claiming that it “ghettoises” women’s fiction and draws attention away from the fact that not many women win the “big” literary prizes. These arguments have merit, but engaging in them is a luxury. In South Africa there is no doubt that women writers need support, particularly through promotion of their work. Exclusive Books stores have piled high titles from Antjie Krog, Patricia Schonstein, Melinda Ferguson, Praba Moodley, Gabeba Baderoon, Rachel Zadok, Nakedi Ribane and others, but there is still a need to encourage South African women to write and to take their own writing seriously. Women are being published, but there is not yet enough diversity within the group, and women are still underrepresented in the charts. It is widely accepted in the publishing trade that women buy and read more books. Marketing campaigns target book clubs (mainly women) and publicity teams push for reviews in women’s magazines. In the UK new cellphone book technology is being targeted at young girls. Imprints are geared to “market segments” of women – such as Transita, which publishes fiction for women over 45, or “grey lit”. The truth is, women readers drive the sales of most books, and their needs and demands inform many publishing decisions. Staff in the publishing industries of the UK and South Africa comprise 70 percent women. It’s only the representation of women writers on the bestseller lists that lags behind. Oshun, the Orange Prize and similar ventures – like Homebru – encourage bookbuyers (mainly women) to read women. If we want more women writers on the book charts, women readers have the power to put them there. We hope that you, the press, will work with us to promote these titles to readers, and that this balanced Homebru list will translate into half the Top 10 chart being occupied by women!
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