Abibiman Publishing takes Nigerian Publishing Market by Storm with July Debut led by David Lanre Messan as CEO

Abibiman Publishing takes Nigerian Publishing Market by Storm with July Debut led by David Lanre Messan as CEO

Before Nigeria’s Independence, the publishing industry was largely in the hands of the then British colonial masters, and expectedly so as they brought the English language to the country which was their colonial possession for 99 years.

The likes of Heinemann, Macmillan, and Longman dominated the market.

With the advent of independence, there was the need for Africans to tell their own stories and so Chinua Achebe, considered the Father of the African Novel had earlier published Africa’s most popular Oeuvre – Things Fall Apart under Heinemann in 1958, launched the African Writers Series in 1962 with himself as the Founding Editor.

The AWS promoted African literature which was largely responsible for Things Fall Apart, Weep Not Child written by Ngugi Wa Thiongo then known as James Ngugi in 1964, and many other African works of literature truly gaining global recognition.

The Structural Adjustment Program which was introduced into Nigeria in 1986 by the then General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida administration was the remote cause of the collapse of the AWS as Nigerians grappled with survival and no longer had disposable income for literary acquisitions.

Abibiman Nigeria is set to continue from where the legendary AWS stopped as it is set to make its debut in the Nigerian market on the 5th of July 2023.

Popular Nigerian Literary Figure and Founder of Abibiman Publishing UK, Onyeka Nwelue, went down memory lane on how Abibiman UK was born.

Croatian writer, Ivan Sršen’s Harmattan, a novel about Nigerian women in a German prison, was translated from Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursać, with financial support from the Republic of Croatia’s Ministry of Culture and Media.

Nwelue said: “Ivan Sršen and I met by the strike of a magical thunder. I read somewhere online that he had invited Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka to a book fair in Croatia. That, and then, I knew he was someone I needed to pursue. And I did. He is married to a Nigerian and he has written a book with Nigerian characters. I wanted to have it published in the English language, so others can read it. I chased him and got the rights and Ellen agreed to translate it. Then came the financial support of the Republic of Croatia’s Ministry of Culture and Media. Now, here is the story and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.”

Abibiman Publishing is registered in the UK, India, the US, and Nigeria. 

Abibiman Publishing Nigeria will be headed by serial entrepreneur and start-ups fund raiser, David Lanre Messan as Chief Executive Officer and Publishing Director. 

The Nigerian literary space hopes to witness a renaissance of literature even more glorious than the AWS years of yore.