The Kano World of Paperbacks exhibition, which accounts place in Kano from 1 October 1969, offers a revealing glimpse into the relationship between books, education, language and international cultural influence in post-independence Nigeria.
The event was associated with a much wider American publishing and cultural programme. By January 1968, the United States Information Agency was already circulating exhibitions called “The World of Paperbacks” to universities, information centres, book fairs and binational centres. The programme was designed to encourage interest in books, broaden readership and promote the circulation of American publications abroad.
In Kano, the exhibition intersected with an important local concern: the place of Hausa in modern publishing and education.
Alhaji Muktar Adnan, commonly known by his traditional title, Sarkin Bai of Kano, was serving as Kano State’s first Commissioner for Education. Accounts of the exhibition associate him with a call for a greater supply of paperback books in Hausa, placing the question of language at the centre of a broader discussion about access to reading.
The Kano World of Paperbacks Exhibition and a Young State
The timing of the exhibition was historically significant.
Kano State had been created on 27 May 1967, when Nigeria’s former regional structure was reorganised into twelve states under the Federal Military Government.
The new state was therefore only a little more than two years old when the paperback exhibition was held.
Muktar Adnan occupied an important position within its emerging administration. Appointed Kano State’s first Commissioner for Education in 1968, he was involved in a ministry responsible for schools, educational development and the expansion of learning within the new state.
Adnan also held the important traditional title of Sarkin Bai of Kano, connecting his political career with Kano’s long-established emirate institutions.
His reported interest in increasing the supply of Hausa paperbacks reflected a practical educational problem. Hausa was already spoken and read across a vast part of Northern Nigeria and beyond, but modern publishing still had to address questions of affordability, distribution and the availability of suitable books in the language.
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The issue was not whether Hausa possessed a literary tradition. It already did.
The challenge was how widely books in Hausa could be produced, distributed and placed in the hands of readers.
The American “World of Paperbacks” Programme
“The World of Paperbacks” formed part of a wider programme operated by the United States Information Agency.
In January 1968, USIA described exhibitions under that title as part of its international efforts to increase the circulation of books and educational materials. The displays were sent to universities, information centres, book fairs and binational centres.
The agency hoped that the exhibitions would stimulate interest in reading while also increasing demand for American publications.
The programme therefore operated at the intersection of education, publishing, commerce and diplomacy.
Paperbacks were particularly suitable for international distribution. They were usually lighter and cheaper to manufacture than hardback books, making them easier to transport and potentially more affordable to students and ordinary readers.
But lower prices could solve only part of the problem.
A book might be inexpensive and still remain inaccessible if it was written in a language that many potential readers could not comfortably use. Distribution also mattered. Books had to move beyond exhibitions and cultural centres into schools, libraries, shops and homes if they were to develop a lasting readership.
This was where the Hausa-language question became especially important.
Muktar Adnan and the Demand for Hausa Books
Hausa was not a marginal language in 1969.
It had long served as one of the principal languages of communication across Northern Nigeria and much of West Africa. It was important in commerce, broadcasting, administration, education, religion and literature.
A paperback initiative dominated by books intended for English-reading audiences could therefore reach only part of Kano’s population.
Calls for greater production of Hausa-language books represented an argument for expanding an already established literary culture.
The Kano World of Paperbacks exhibition consequently highlighted a broader question about educational access. Making books affordable was valuable, but genuine accessibility also depended on language.
Readers needed books they could understand, books that addressed subjects relevant to their lives and books supported by reliable systems of publication and distribution.
That issue had deep historical roots.
Hausa Writing Long Before 1969
Northern Nigeria possessed important written traditions long before the arrival of modern paperback publishing.
Arabic scholarship had flourished for centuries in the region, particularly through Islamic education, manuscript culture and scholarly correspondence.
Hausa was also written in Ajami, an adaptation of Arabic script used for several African languages.
Ajami became an important means of recording poetry, religious teaching, correspondence and other forms of written expression. During the nineteenth century, the intellectual environment associated with the Sokoto Caliphate strengthened traditions of writing in Arabic, Hausa and Fulfulde.
Roman-script Hausa later developed alongside these older traditions.
By the twentieth century, modern printing had created additional possibilities for newspapers, books, educational materials and popular literature.
The Gaskiya Corporation became one of the most important institutions in this transformation. Founded during the colonial period, it became closely associated with Hausa-language newspaper and book publishing.
Another major development came with the creation of the Northern Region Literature Agency, better known as NORLA, in 1954.
NORLA was supported by the Northern Regional Government and was established to encourage literature and publishing across the region.
Its activities went far beyond Hausa alone. The organisation produced newspapers and publications in several Northern Nigerian languages, including Hausa, Fulfulde, Kanuri, Nupe, Tiv and Igala.
Hausa nevertheless occupied a particularly important place in its publishing programme.
NORLA produced newspapers, educational materials, plays and books while maintaining an extensive distribution network across the Northern Region.
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Scholars of Hausa literary history have identified NORLA as one of the most important government-supported institutions in the expansion of Hausa publishing during the 1950s.
The historical significance is clear.
The Kano paperback exhibition did not introduce books, writing or literary culture to Northern Nigeria. It entered a society where manuscript traditions, Islamic scholarship, Hausa Ajami and modern printing were already well established.
An Exhibition During the Nigerian Civil War
The exhibition also occurred during one of the most difficult periods in Nigerian history.
On 1 October 1969, Nigeria marked the ninth anniversary of independence from Britain.
At the same time, the Nigerian Civil War was still being fought.
The conflict had begun in 1967 after the Eastern Region declared itself the independent Republic of Biafra. Federal forces and Biafran forces fought for almost three years before organised resistance ended in January 1970.
Kano was geographically distant from the main eastern battlefronts, and civilian life continued across much of Northern Nigeria.
The exhibition should therefore be understood within that wider wartime environment rather than as an event held under direct battlefield conditions.
Its existence reflected the continuation of education, administration and cultural activity while the country remained immersed in a national crisis.
Government ministries continued functioning. International organisations continued their programmes. Schools and cultural institutions remained part of public life.
Books and education did not cease to matter because Nigeria was at war.
Books and Cold War Cultural Diplomacy
The American involvement in the exhibition adds another important dimension.
The United States Information Agency was created to conduct American information and cultural activities abroad.
During the Cold War, major powers increasingly recognised culture as a means of international influence.
Books, films, libraries, radio programmes, exhibitions, academic exchanges and language teaching all became instruments through which governments attempted to build relationships and shape foreign perceptions.
USIA was a central part of that American strategy.
Through its overseas operations, often identified under the United States Information Service name, the agency distributed publications, operated information centres, organised cultural events and supported educational programmes.
Books occupied an important place in this system.
“The World of Paperbacks” therefore belonged to a programme that could provide genuine educational resources while also advancing American diplomatic and cultural objectives.
These purposes were not mutually exclusive.
A Nigerian reader could gain useful knowledge from an inexpensive book even though the government distributing or promoting that publication also hoped to strengthen American influence.
The Kano exhibition consequently provides an example of how international diplomacy could operate through seemingly ordinary cultural objects.
A paperback book could be educational material, a commercial product and an instrument of cultural diplomacy at the same time.
The Economics of Affordable Reading
The attraction of paperbacks was closely connected with cost.
Hardback books were often expensive to manufacture, purchase and transport. Paperback production reduced some of those costs and allowed publishers to reach wider audiences.
For students, teachers and readers with limited incomes, the difference could be significant.
Yet the history of publishing in Northern Nigeria showed that price alone could not create a sustainable reading culture.
Publishers needed enough readers to justify production costs.
Readers, meanwhile, needed a steady supply of books before strong reading and purchasing habits could develop.
Distribution networks were therefore as important as printing presses.
NORLA had already demonstrated this principle through its use of agents and distribution systems across Northern Nigeria.
Language added another layer.
A cheap book could still fail to reach a mass audience if it was unavailable in the language most comfortable for those readers.
The discussion surrounding Hausa paperbacks therefore touched on a much larger issue: the relationship between literacy, language, publishing economics and cultural relevance.
The Wider Importance of Hausa Print Culture
By the late 1960s, Hausa print culture stood at the intersection of several historical traditions.
There was the older world of Arabic scholarship and Islamic manuscript production.
There was Hausa Ajami, which enabled Hausa speakers to write their language using adapted Arabic script.
There was the growing Roman-script tradition promoted through colonial education, newspapers and publishing institutions.
There was also the expansion of radio broadcasting and other forms of mass communication.
Together, these developments created an increasingly complex literary environment.
Hausa writers and readers were not simply moving from an oral past into a written modern age. Oral and written traditions existed together, influencing one another.
Storytelling, poetry, religious instruction, newspapers, manuscripts, radio and printed books all belonged to the broader cultural landscape.
This context is essential for understanding the significance of the 1969 exhibition.
Its importance lay not in bringing written culture to Kano, but in becoming part of an existing debate about how books could become cheaper, more widely available and more responsive to the languages of their intended readers.
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Conclusion
The Kano World of Paperbacks exhibition belongs to a revealing moment in Nigeria’s post-independence history.
It brought together the United States Information Agency’s international paperback programme, the educational ambitions of the newly created Kano State government and an already sophisticated Hausa literary and publishing tradition.
Muktar Adnan stood at the centre of that intersection as Kano State’s first Commissioner for Education and an important traditional figure.
The question associated with the exhibition was ultimately larger than the event itself.
Making books cheaper could widen access, but affordability alone was not enough. Readers also needed books in languages they understood, reliable systems of distribution, suitable educational opportunities and material connected to their cultural and intellectual environment.
Northern Nigeria already possessed centuries of written scholarship before the paperback era. The challenge facing educators and publishers in 1969 was not to create literary culture from nothing.
It was to expand access to books within a society where several powerful traditions of reading, writing, scholarship and oral expression already existed.
The Kano exhibition therefore offers a useful window into the meeting of local educational priorities and international cultural diplomacy during a formative period in Nigerian history.
Author’s Note
The history of Kano’s 1969 paperback exhibition reminds us that access to books involves far more than producing inexpensive editions. Northern Nigeria already possessed rich traditions of Arabic scholarship, Hausa Ajami writing and modern publishing before the exhibition took place. Its wider historical lesson lies in the continuing relationship between language, education, distribution and cultural relevance. Books become most powerful when readers can obtain them, understand them and recognise something meaningful within their pages.
References
United States Department of State, Office of the Historian. “U.S. Information Agency Activities to Carry Out President Johnson’s New Initiatives in the Field of International Education,” 31 January 1968. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VII: Public Diplomacy, 1964–1968, Document 175.
United States Information Agency. “Some Changes in USIA since March, 1961,” 28 October 1963. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VI: Public Diplomacy, 1961–1963, Document 150.
United States Department of State, Office of the Historian. Telegram 6676, Department of State to the Embassy in Ivory Coast, 15 January 1970. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E-5, Part 1: Documents on Sub-Saharan Africa, 1969–1972, Document 163.
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Furniss, Graham. “Documenting Kano ‘Market’ Literature.” Africa Bibliography. International African Institute, Cambridge University Press.
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Paden, John N. Religion and Political Culture in Kano. University of California Press, 1973.
Kano State Government. “History.” Official history of the creation and development of Kano State.
Premium Times Nigeria. “Kano Kingmaker, Muktar Adnan, Is Dead.” 3 December 2021.
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