Culture of Tunisia - Publishing

Publishing

At the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the relationship between the bourgeois elite and business associations and the Khaldounia Alumni College Sadiki printing press was close. But its weakness, was that control was exercised by the authorities of the French protectorate and affected the publication and dissemination of newspapers at a local level. After the First World War, Tunisian gradually moved into a better position and it is in the inter-war years as that Arabic publishing began flourishing. Before the independence was proclaimed in 1956, the publication of the Tunisian literature was still provided by the booksellers, printers and a few publishing houses run by the private French press. Subsequently, the state commanded the creation of a major new publishing structure with the aim of establishing a modern national culture in coordination with its general culture and education targets. Thus, the state produced over 70% of the books between 1956 and 1987 which left private publishing little opportunity to evolve. It was not until the early 1990s that the state abandoned its role centralising the publishing and solely managing a series institutions.

In this context, private publishing companies developed fast; the editorial production between 1987 and 1996 amounted to 6,068 titles. Now, most of Tunisia's book production comes from the private sector from over a hundred publishers. The budget devoted to literature by the Ministry of Culture in 2003 exceeded three million Tunisian dinars for the purchase of Tunisian and foreign books and periodicals. 2003 was also proclaimed "National Book Year" in Tunisia which allowed the organization of fairs and exhibitions, meetings for reflection and debate, writing contests, etc.