Version en français : ICI
Founded in 1947 at the dawn of decolonization as a journal, then a publishing house in 1949, Présence Africaine was the first imprint to publish most of the best-known Francophone African writers of the 20th century. Over time, it has gained international recognition for its consistent publication and promotion of texts by African and Afro-descendant writers, many of whom have now become integral to the world’s intellectual heritage. Their works have been translated and taught in schools and universities, especially within the postcolonial field.
From the very beginning, Editions Présence Africaine was the first publisher to translate leading English-speaking African writers into French, including Chinua Achebe, Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, as well as pan-Africanist leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere.
Among its many famous titles, we can mention works by Aimé Césaire (Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, Discourse on Colonialism), Jean-Paul Sartre (Black Orpheus), Djibril Tamsir Niane (Sundjata, an Epic of Old Mali), Cheikh Anta Diop (Pre-colonial Black Africa, Civilization or Barbarism), Birago Diop (The Tales of Amadou Koumba), Ousmane Sembene (The Black Docker, Xala, Guelwaar), Joseph Zobel (Black Shack Alley), and many more.
See our selection of recent books and classics (Fiction & Non-Fiction, permanently updated): Here
Présence Africaine Website: www.presenceafricaine.com