Oral and written literatures in African languages, often published locally, are seldom known internationally, in spite of a production which is far from being negligible and could even be considered as important in some languages such as Swahili, Hausa or Yoruba. Albert Gerard already proved the importance of this production some years back in his book ((African Language Literatures, Three Continents Press 1981), which, although limited to written literatures, still identified more than a thousand book publications. The variety of formats and multimedia circulation patterns equally proves the vitality of these literatures while making them more accessible and giving them a new lease of life. The aim of the online Encyclopedia of literatures in African languages (ELLAF) project is to remedy this lack of visibility and initiate research in this field. This project, covering both oral and written literatures, is currently at the pilot phase with a first sample of eleven languages which will gradually extend to other continental languages. The conference on “Literatures in African Languages: production, circulation, reception” is meant to wrap up this first stage.