Sarit all set for annual Nairobi International Book Fair
Sarit Centre, in Westlands, will this week host publishers showcasing what they have been working on for the last one year.
Nairobi International Book Fair, now in its 24th edition runs from tomorrow to Sunday.
The event is organised by the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA), the umbrella body of publishers in Kenya.
The official opening ceremony will be graced by Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu as chief guest, with Defence CS Aden Duale as special guest. Mary Maina the chair of NIBF, exudes confidence this year’s event will be a major improvement from last year’s. Due to Covid-19 gathering restrictions there were no book fairs in 2020 and 2021.
“We have 120 stands, fully taken, an improvement of 10, from last year’s event. Some of the foreign exhibitors coming to the NIBF include China, India, Abu Dhabi, Iran, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Uganda. This is big, considering that last year, we only had one foreign exhibitor,” adds Ms Maina also the CEO of Moran Publishers.
“It is important to emphasise that the NIBF is the biggest and most prestigious book event in Africa, second only to the Cairo Book Fair,” said Ms Maina.
“The Fair will be an opportunity to meet and mingle with players in the industry, ranging from authors, editors, designers, illustrators and even printers. This is in keeping with this year’s theme of ‘Nurturing Talent Through Publishing’.”
Apart from books being sold at discounted prices, a number of key authors, will be at hand to autograph books for those who will purchase them. They include John Kiriamiti, whose book My Life in Crime, published by East African Educational Publishers (EAEP), remains a Kenyan best-seller. Others include Duale, who recently wrote his memoirs, For the Record, and former IEBC chief, Ahmed Isaack Hassan, whose book Referee of a Dirty, Ugly Game, published by Big Books. For the first time, KPA have teamed up with eKitabu and African Publishers Network (APNET) to host a full-fledged pavilion dedicated to buying and selling of rights. While trading in book rights has been a factor in previous fairs, they have largely been informal affairs.
The Rights Café, is a pavilion where local and foreign publishers will be trading in Intellectual Property Rights. Specially appointed NIBF ambassadors drawn from different countries in Africa, Europe and the Americas, will be at hand to negotiate with local publishers and authors for the sale of their rights. Kiarie Kamau, the chairman of KPA explains that the business line of buying and selling rights has been largely unexplored on the African market. “There are tremendous opportunities that accrue from engaging in this line of business. Publishers who have invested in works of a general nature: creative works and biographies, among others, should seize the opportunity presented by the NIBF to trade with regional and international publishers in the arena of Rights,” adds Mr Kamau who is also the CEO of East African Educational Publishers.
Lawrence Njagi, the chairman of APNET says that his organisation has invited key publishers from around Africa, who will attend the NIBF with a view to participating in the rights forum. “The exchange of intellectual property rights is crucial in a globalised publishing sector,” explains Njagi, who is also the CEO of Mountain Top Publishers. “You do not have to publish a book afresh, when you can acquire the rights to publish the book in your country. You, in the process, increase your bottomline, while reducing production costs. You only incur printing costs and taking the book to the market.
According to Mercy Kirui, a senior manager, in charge of content at eKitabu, the fact that the rights pavilion is now a reality, is a calumniation of the hard work they have put, behind the scenes. “Our team has, over the years, graced a number of international book fairs and we have studied how trading in rights is done, so we sought to replicate the same here,” she explains.
James Odhiambo, the CEO of KPA explains that publishers will be selling books at generous discounts of up to 50 per cent. “Book lovers and budding authors will therefore get an opportunity to mingle with their favourite authors,” explains Odhiambo. “Book editors will also be at hand to give tips on what a good manuscripts entails. Book sellers should also take advantage of the discounts to stock up.”
