In an environment where academic publishing typically privileges older European and North American presses, sub-Saharan Africa has carved a space. Universities in Africa frequently preach the importance of developing continental publishers to reach what they consider to be acceptable global standards. At the same time, they continue to valorize Global North academic (especially university) publishers over continental ones. This creates the proverbial vicious cycle. Within this context of unequal competition, Sub-Saharan Publishers, based in Ghana, has worked hard to publish both academic and more popular texts that are accessible to the academic community on the continent. The Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana has worked with Sub-Saharan Publishers over the years, a recent example being our 530-page textbook for undergraduate students, “Africa in Contemporary Perspective,” edited by Takyiwaa Manuh and Esi Sutherland-Addy.
African Books Collective has posted an interview with the founder of Sub-Saharan Publishers, Akoss Ofori-Mensah, that puts into literary, political and historical context her publishing company and the larger publishing industry in Africa.