The printing and publishing sector in Barbados consists mainly of small firms, virtually all of which employ less than 50 people; in all, the sector employed around 800–900 people in 2008. Macmillan and Pearson Longman are among the leading publishers in the educational sub-sector, publishing textbook series that include those for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) syllabuses. The country is ranked 30 out of 144 in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012–13 for its intellectual property protection, with a score of 4.9 overall. It is next to the United States who is listed 29 in the table with a score of 5.0. Neighbouring countries such as Venezuela are low in comparison with a score of 1.7 and is listed 143out of 144 countries.
The official language spoken in Barbados is English, which also creates a base language for Bajan, an English-Barbadian Creole which has a dialect deriving from West African languages. Whilst most natives speak English, Bajan is also a popular language spoken by most. Barbados has a high literacy rate at 98%. The publishing market is not vast, however Barbados’ sole university, the University of the West Indies which has campuses also in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica has a student body of more than 24,000, as such the prospect of a publishing market does exist.
The National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) hosts an annual Literary Arts Book Fair in November. The programme was introduced to celebrate the island’s independence to the communities in order for them to showcase the various aspects of Bajan culture and creative arts. The BIM Literary Festival and Book Fair had its first opening in 2012, with the prospect of carrying it through future years. The focus of the BIM Lit Fest is to showcase the writers from Barbados and the wider Caribbean.
The Nation Publishing Co. Limited is the main print media house in Barbados and has been in operation for more than 39 years. Located in Bridgetown, the company publishes the leading daily newspaper The Nation, as well as other speciality magazines: Better Health and Stylewise to name a few. The company is a subsidiary of Nation Corporation, one of two principal entities in One Caribbean Media Limited.
