BOOK SA - News

Alert! The Nairobi Book Fair is happening next week, from 23 to 27 September, at the Sarit Centre (”Kenya’s first, biggest and busiest shopping mall”) in the city’s suburb of Westlands.

It’s the 12th such book fair, but, to judge from Tom Odhiambo’s response to the way it’s being presented to the Kenyan and African public, it doesn’t quite measure up to the standard set by its continental cousin in Cape Town:

The news doing the rounds in town is that the National Book Week and the Nairobi International Book Fair will be with us in the course of this month.

But unlike the warnings from the ever-unreliable Meteorological Department that El Nino rains might come to wash us all into the Indian Ocean, the two major events on Kenya’s literary calendar appear unable to announce their arrival in style.

Yet the 12th Nairobi International Book Fair which is set to be held at the Sarit Centre in Westlands between September 23 and 27 is supposed to be at par with such other shows in Africa as the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, which takes place in August, and the Cape Town International Book Fair. But is the Nairobi fete really a cousin of the two major African book fairs?

The Nairobi International Book Fair should measure up to many book fairs in Africa and the rest of the world because it is the only one of its type in East Africa. Also, Kenya has had an established publishing culture in the region for a long time.

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To echo Odhiambo, an official NBF website certainly would be nice to see; I haven’t been able to dig it up if it’s online.

Despite the gripes, there will be plenty to see and do; don’t miss, for instance, the events hosted by Kwani?:

Kwani will host a Writers In Conversation event featuring two of its recently launched titles; ‘The Life & Times of Richard Onyango’, by Richard Onyango, ‘The Life of Mzee Ondego’, by Enock Ondego. This event will be held on Saturday, 26th September. Kwani Trust will also hold a showcase reading of material received so far from the Kwani short story competition, ‘The Kenya I Live In’. This event will be held on Thursday, 24th 2009.

‘THE LIFE & TIMES OF RICHARD ONYANGO’ BY RICHARD ONYANGO
This Kwani-ni? edition tells a street-to-canvas bildunsroman of one of Kenya ’s most successful artists, inspired by a great love of his life. Richard Onyango tells his coming of age story; from his beginnings as a musical apprentice at the Coast, to lover of Drossie, to his emergence as a force in the international art world.

‘THE LIFE OF MZEE ONDEGO’ BY ENOCK ONDEGO
Mzee Ondego, Kenya ’s greatest choirmaster and Kenyatta confidante tells the story of his relationship with Kenya ’s founding father. Unknown as the man behind one of Kenya’s most influential songs - the haunting dirge that played on during those fateful days after the death of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Ondego remembers a time that has become part of our living memory

All Kwani products will be available at the Kwani stand. For a full programme of Kwani? Events at this Festival, please visit www.kwani.org or email Wambui Thuku on g.wambui@kwani.org.

Last, the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature Award (JKPLA) prizes will be announced at the Fair’s closing ceremony on Saturday 26 Sep.

For an idea of who might be bringing their books to the Nairobi Book Fair, click here. BOOK SA wishes the organisers and exhibitors success!

Photo courtesy Kopiken