{{Short description|Guyanese journalist (born 1835)}} {{Infobox person | name = Arif Ali | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1935|03|13|df=y}} | birth_place = Danielstown, British Guiana | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Publisher | years_active = | known_for = [http://www.hansibpublications.com/ Hansib Books] | notable_works = | awards = Bocas Henry Swanzy Award }} '''Arif Ali''' (born 13 March 1935)<ref name=Hoyles>Asher & Martin Hoyles, ''Caribbean Publishing in Britain: A Tribute to Arif Ali'', Hansib Publications (2011), 2015, p. 97.</ref> is a Guyanese-born publisher and newspaper proprietor who migrated to London in 1957. The company he founded in 1970, '''Hansib''', was among pioneering publishers in the UK that disseminated publications of relevance to Britain's black community, others including New Beacon Books (1966) and Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications (1968).<ref name=SN>[http://www.stabroeknews.com/2008/guyana-review/09/03/publishing/ "A lifetime in publishing: Arif Ali and the Hansib story"], ''Stabroek News'', 3 September 2008.</ref> Hansib went on to become the largest black publisher in Europe.<ref>Mia Morris, [http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/sitea/articles/100_Great_Britains.html "100 Great Black Britons"]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Black History Month website.</ref><ref name=Colourful /> In March 2024, Ali was announced as winner of the annual Bocas Henry Swanzy Award for Distinguished Service to Caribbean Letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bocaslitfest.com/2024/03/20/2024-bocas-swanzy-award-honours-guyana-born-publisher/|title=2024 Bocas Swanzy Award honours Guyana-born publisher|website=Bocas Lit Fest|date=20 March 2024|access-date=22 March 2024}}</ref> ==Biography== ===Family background and early years=== One of seven children, Arif Ali was born in Danielstown, on the Essequibo coast, British Guiana (now Guyana); two of his grandparents were Indian indentured labourers,<ref name=Colourful>Rob Hayward, [http://www.colourfulradio.com/content/business/13021 "Arif Ali of Hansib Publications"], Colourful Radio, 19 March 2015.</ref> but by the time of his birth the family had become wealthy landowners.<ref name=Sherwood>Marika Sherwood, [http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1106 "Caribbean Publishing in Britain. A Tribute to Arif Ali" (reviews)], ''Reviews in History'', Institute of Historical Research, University of London, July 2011.</ref>
After graduating from high school in Georgetown, Ali left on 12 August 1957 for London, England, intending to study economics,<ref name=SN>[http://www.stabroeknews.com/2008/guyana-review/09/03/publishing/ "A lifetime in publishing: Arif Ali and the Hansib story"], ''Stabroek News'', 3 September 2008.</ref> and arrived at Victoria Station on 3 September,<ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 104.</ref> having travelled to Britain via the Canary Islands, Spain, Italy and France.<ref name=AC>Adwoa Korkor, [https://angelacobbinah.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/forty-and-still-going-strong/ "Forty and still going strong"], Angela Cobbinah, 30 October 2010.</ref> He initially worked at different jobs, including on the buses and as a porter in a hospital — where in 1958 he met a young English nurse named Pamela who three months later became his wife.<ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 108.</ref>
===First business ventures=== In 1966 Ali started to run a greengrocer's in Tottenham Lane, an area with a significant Caribbean population in north London, and before long, as Carolyn Cooper notes, "his business place became a vibrant cultural centre".<ref name=Cooper>Carolyn Cooper, [http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100307/cleisure/cleisure3.html "Seaga's Jamaica? Absolutely!"], ''Jamaica Gleaner'', 7 March 2010,</ref> One of the few outlets for Caribbean provisions such as yams, plantains and cassava, the shop also sold newspapers brought in from Caribbean countries including Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados: "The newspapers served to connect West Indians in the diaspora with their respective home territories."<ref name=SN />
Ali progressed from this to producing on a Gestetner machine a cheaply priced compilation of articles called ''The Westindian'', a venture that proved successful.<ref name=SN /> He sold the food shop and in 1970 founded Hansib Publications — named after his parents, Haniff and Nasibun (Sibby) — <ref name=Colourful /> specifically to cater for this readership and in April 1971 the company published ''The Westindian Digest'', a magazine for Britain's West Indian communities.<ref>Hoyles (2015), pp. 112–13.</ref> In 1973 Hansib published its first book, edited by Ali and entitled ''Westindians in Great Britain''.<ref name=Sherwood /><ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 142.</ref> New editions of this "Who's Who" came out in subsequent years, and with the fifth edition in 1982, the name of the publication was changed to ''Third World Impact''.<ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 144.</ref>
===Newspaper publishing=== Ali's career as a newspaper publisher started in 1973 with the acquisition of ''West Indian World'' from its then owner Aubrey Baynes, who had launched the paper in mid-1971 but had become disillusioned with its financial viability.<ref>Lionel Morrison, [https://books.google.com/books?id=76M-nuHaji8C&dq=%22Arif+ali%22+publisher&pg=PA37 ''A Century of Black Journalism in Britain: A Kaleidoscopic View of Race and the Media (1893-2003)''], Truebay Ltd, 2007, p. 36. {{ISBN|978-0-9555540-0-1}}.</ref> Under Ali's editorship the ''West Indian World'' prospered, campaigning on various educational issues that were affecting black schoolchildren in Britain. Ali went on to further engage and communicate with the Caribbean, African and Asian communities by establishing the ''Asian Digest'' (August 1980),<ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 117.</ref> the newspapers ''Caribbean Times'' (1981), ''Asian Times'' (1983) and ''African Times'' (1985), as well as ''Root'' magazine (1987).<ref name=AboutUs>[http://www.hansibpublications.com/epages/es147335.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es147335/Categories/AboutUs "About Us"], Hansib website.</ref> By the 1990s he had a staff of 140, publishing three weekly papers and two monthly magazines. The circulation of the ''Caribbean Times'' peaked at 28,000, with average sales of about 10,000 copies.<ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 134.</ref>
===Book publishing=== In 1997 Ali sold his newspapers in order to concentrate on book publishing,<ref name=Sherwood /> and Hansib remains "the biggest and most diverse black book publisher in Britain".<ref name=Colourful /> Talking to ''The Guardian'' in 2010, Ali said: "In the 1960s, mainstream European-led publishing houses rarely published black and minority ethnic (BME) writers' work, if at all. Little positive was written about us, our cultures, our backgrounds and performances. I went into publishing to print stories and feelings that needed telling and would not be produced elsewhere."<ref>Fay Wertheimer, [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/nov/24/minority-publisher-hansib-40th-birthday "Minority publisher celebrates 40th birthday"], ''The Guardian'', 24 November 2010.</ref>
By the time of its 40th anniversary, in 2010, Hansib had brought out more than 200 titles,<ref>Angela Cobbinah, [http://www.camdenreview.com/node/375088 "Caribbean Publishing in Britain: A Tribute to Arif Ali, by Asher and Martin Hoyles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827184532/http://www.camdenreview.com/node/375088# |date=27 August 2016 }}, ''Camden Review'', 22 September 2011.</ref> in categories encompassing politics, history, culture, sport, cookery, to multicultural literature including poetry, fiction and memoir, with claims to have for more than four decades "reflected and chronicled the achievements and struggles, the turmoils and frustrations, and the hopes and dreams of Britain's Caribbean, African and Asian communities."<ref name=AboutUs /> Ali himself has edited some of the company's successful titles, among them the Nations Series, illustrated portraits of countries, such as ''Jamaica Absolutely'', ''Trinidad and Tobago: Terrific and Tranquil'' and ''Guyana at 50: Reflection, Celebration and Inspiration''.<ref name=Cooper /><ref>Sharon Millar, [http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-88/caribbean-bookshelf-novemberdecember-2007#axzz3xmFEhUaL "Caribbean Bookshelf"], ''Caribbean Beat'', Issue 88 (November/December 2007).</ref><ref>[http://theygavethecrowdplentyfun.com/hansib-publications/ "Hansib Publications"], ''They Gave the Crowd Plenty Fun''.</ref><ref name=AC />
In parallel with his publishing activities, Ali has been involved over the years with various Black political organisations, and was public relations officer for the West Indian Standing Conference, an umbrella organisation comprising more than 40 UK-based African and Caribbean groups.<ref>Hoyles (2015), p. 138.</ref>
== See also == * New Beacon Books * Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * Asher and Martin Hoyles, ''Caribbean Publishing in Britain: A Tribute to Arif Ali'', Hansib Publications, 2011; reprinted 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-906190-42-2}}.
==External links== * [http://www.hansibpublications.com/ Hansib] official website. * [http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/arif-ali-true-community-hero "Arif Ali: A true community hero"], Operation Black Vote, 28 November 2010. * Adwoa Korkor, [https://angelacobbinah.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/forty-and-still-going-strong/ "Forty and still going strong"], Angela Cobbinah, 30 October 2010. * [https://museumofcolour.org.uk/people-of-letters-exhibition/arif-ali/?piece=8 "People of Letters | Arif Ali"], ''Museum of Colour''. * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4J7BCfB2YM "Arif Ali by Alexander D Great (c) 2020"]. YouTube, 12 December 2020.
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Arif}} Category:Living people Category:1935 births Category:20th-century newspaper publishers (people) Category:Book publishers (people) Category:Book publishing company founders Category:British publishers (people) Category:English people of Indian descent Category:Guyanese activists Category:Guyanese businesspeople Category:Guyanese emigrants to England Category:Guyanese journalists Category:Indo-Guyanese people