The King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud Foundation for Islamic Studies and Human Sciences recently published a report on the situation of publishing and books in Morocco. Focusing on the fields of literature, humanities and social sciences, for the years 2022 and 2023, this document is made public on the occasion of the 29th edition of the International Publishing and Book Fair (SIEL 2024), which opens on May 9 in Rabat.
The Foundation revealed that the total books published for the year 2022/2023 amounts to 3,482 titles, with an estimated annual production rate of 1,741, between paper and digital publications. Over the same period, 496 Moroccan magazines were referenced.
Paper publications represent 92% of Moroccan publishing (humanities, social sciences and literature). As for the volume of digital publishing, it is estimated at 8%, the majority being in foreign languages (67.02% in French and English). Electronic publications are often from public institutions, official organizations and institutes working in the field of research.
In terms of languages, the report showed a continuity of the “Arabization process of the Moroccan publishing sector”, already followed in previous reports. Thus, the use of the Arabic language was noted in nearly 79.1% of published works.
While the rate of use of the French language is 16.31% in publishing publications, the report explains this trend by “the dynamic of Arabization in the teaching of human and social sciences within Moroccan universities, since the 1970s, which has created new generations of Arabic-speaking researchers and authors. This phenomenon was later reflected in the fields of writing and publishing.
Very few books in Amazigh and foreign languages
Other foreign languages represent only a small percentage of Moroccan publishing, with English estimated at 2.28% and Spanish at 0.5%.
The report also states that “more than twenty years after the creation of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) and the constitutionalization of the Amazigh language” in 2011, “the situation of Moroccan publishing in the Amazigh language has not not changed”, this language still remaining very marginal.
During the period covered by the report, 53 books were published in the Amazigh language, all in paper format, at an annual rate not exceeding 27 works per year. This figure represents 1% of total Moroccan publications.
