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Colleen Higgs, writer, founder and publisher of Modjaji Books, South Africa

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Audioscript Colleen Higgs

2023 is my 9th Frankfurt book fair and I’m lucky enough to be on the invitation program again.  

The first time I participated was in 2011, also as part of the invitation program. Iceland was the guest of honor. I remember waiting anxiously for a meeting in Hall 8 at 10 am on the Wednesday outside the Harper Collins stand. Everyone seemed so purposeful, well-groomed, and confident […] and walking towards my meeting I passed Granta, Penguin, Faber, Chronicle Books, and Graywolf. 

This year my calendar for the first three days of the fair is pretty full, and now I know so many people who I consider friends and colleagues. I’ve sold rights to countries all over the world. And in 2024 „Innie Shadows“ [from Olivia M. Coetzee] the first novel to be translated from Kaaps Afrikaans into English or any other language – is coming out with a Canadian publishers House of Anansi who bought world rights from us. 

One of the many things I’ve learned from being at Frankfurt is that publishing is an ecosystem and there’s room for all of us here, the tiny fish and the huge ones. 

Meet Colleen Higgs at the Frankfurt Book Fair: Hall 4.1/B85 

https://www.modjajibooks.co.za(opens in a new window)