Strife-torn DRC struggles to lure youth back into reading

Goma - The printer in the corner of Martin Lukongo's print shop in Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) troubled east, vibrates as it churns out an order for 400 copies of a book.

For more than 30 years, this part of the vast country has been known for the conflict that now surrounds the city, rather than for any literary output.

Some consider reading a luxury, even a futile activity, in a nation ranked as one of the world's poorest.

But a collective of artists and activists has set out to encourage young people to develop a love of books by overcoming the hurdles to produce them locally.

"Writers prefer to print in Europe, as they think they can't obtain this quality here," Lukongo said.

A photographer by trade, he manages to overcome power cuts and a shortage of high-quality paper by obtaining it from neighboring countries to print around 60 copies, including books, novels and essays, a day.