On 27 October, the African Publishers Network (APNET) held its 2022 General Assembly virtually and elected a new board for a two-year term starting in January 2023. Mr Lawrence Njagi (CEO, Mountain Top Publishers, Past President of Kenya Publishers Association and IPA Executive Committee member) was elected as Chairman. He will succeed Mr Samuel Kolawole (CEO, University Press PLC).
APNET members also elected a new board with Asare Konadu Yamoah (Ghana) as Vice Chairperson, Lukman Dauda (Nigeria) as Honorary Treasurer and Maureen Lynda Masamba (Malawi) as Honorary Secretary. 5 Official Regional Representatives were also elected covering East, West, Central, Northern and Southern Africa.
On 4 November, at its General Assembly the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) elected Ricardo Levi, President of the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) as President to succeed Peter Kraus vom Cleff (Managing Director of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels).
During the meeting, FEP members also voted for the new Board for the 2022-2024 mandate. Sonia Draga, the current President of the Polish Chamber of Books (PIK) and President of the eponym publishing house has been elected as Vice-President, the first woman elected to that position. Phaedon Kidoniatis, Representative of the Cooperation of Greek Publishers’ Associations and Founder of Eurasia Publications, as Treasurer, and Catherine Blache (Syndicat National de l’Édition, France), Sakari Laiho (Suomen Kustannusyhdistys, Finland) and Jessica Sänger (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany) were also elected as Board members.
The IPA congratulates Laurence Njagi and Ricardo Levi, as well as their respective new boards on their election and extends our thanks to Samuel Kolawole and Peter Kraus vom Cleff for all of their work and close cooperation with IPA during their Presidencies.
