Guinea has high hopes for the choice of Conakry as “World Book Capital in 2017” by UNESCO, the International Publishers Association (IPA), the International Booksellers Federation (IBF) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). The challenges faced by the Guinean capital are detailed in an interview given by Sansy Kaba Diakité, Director of the publishing house L’Harmattan Guinée and the focal point of the Guinean application, to the website Le Point Afrique

The choice of Conakry was supported by the biggest and most important book event to take place in Guinea, being the “72h du livre”, initiated by Sansy Kaba Diakité. It is an annual meeting between book professionals and amateurs from all over the continent, who gather to celebrate the World Book and Copyright Day. The event mostly targets tertiary institutions and schools. In 2015, 50,000 people participated.

“Guineans have an appetite for reading”, Sansy Kaba Diakité declares, based according to him on studies and meetings with readers and authors. He believes that choosing Conakry as the world book capital offers Guinea the opportunity to meet many challenges in this sector: “create books stations, media libraries, adopt a real publishing policy for the country, equip the country with a national library, attract big authors to our country and show the entire world that Guinea has a real literature which was and continues to be”, Sansy Kaba Diakité explained. He reminded that Guinea is the country of Camara Laye who wrote The African Child, of Thierno Monénembo who was the recipient of the Renaudot prize in 2008 and of Djibril Tamsir Niane, author of Soundiata ou l’épopée mandingue.