Skip to main content

The Nairobi International Book Fair: Creative Economy.

 24th Nairobi International Book Fair. Theme: Nurturing Talent through Publishing! All protocols observed, to some remembrances first. Many years back in the dark ages of the floppy disk (TikTok peeps, that would be the ‘Save’ icon on your gadget), as an aspiring author, I got to know of the Nairobi International Book Fair. Then, I had a handwritten manuscript of a Kiswahili play that would make me a billionaire as I jet-setted around the world, shock on poor me!

Sarit Centre, a revered Nairobi icon and landmark, after Yaya Centre – then. Of course, Kenya’s symbol being the KICC (Kenyatta International Conference Centre, now Convention – rebranding and all that – nowadays, the fountains are working again). The venue. 

All these big publishers whose books I had read as school course and set-books. ‘Go type’, then ‘send’ – which I did. Sent to over twenty publishers – ‘unsolicited manuscript’ – with only one having the decency to revert, with points on improvement, though they couldn’t publish it at the moment. My first encounter with editing. And gatekeepers. Nowadays, they are ‘nicer’ and do ‘Customer Experience’. 

Then, StoryMoja happened. Dashing, romantic, daring, different. Hay Festivals. Creative writing courses – master classes. Ala carte menu. My choice – poetry, more poetry, the short story form (2013 – saddest year of my life, Westgate). Made full use of this opportunity as an aspiring writer. Really took chance with young talent, still do. Thanks StoryMoja for believing in me. (PS: One of my stories which won an award with you got me a job as an editor years later. I owe you one). 

(PS2: StoryMoja ushered me into the flash disk era courtesy of a workshop they sponsored me to and where Dr. Btange Ndemo – then PS - was the lead facilitator. The flash disk was one of the promotional items and I really did a moving presentation {or so, I tell myself}… my self-esteem and belief has been massive since then due to this validation. That my opinion, my words mattered… ‘In the beginning, was the Word…’ If you can own your words to tell enticing stories, you can move worlds. I was also the only participant at the workshop not moving around in a convoy of big machines.)

Fast forward. Again, the Sarit Centre, another book fair. The revered Muthoni Likimani, author of ‘What does a Man want’… She was almost beating up, to paraphrase her, “Young man. Why are you stressing yourself for nothing? Put together a manuscript, get an editor, a designer, go down Kirinyaga Road”… My eyes were opened to self-publishing. Then Ng’ang’a Mbugua happened… The Writers Guild… Africa Ink Publishers… Mystery Publishers… 

The persistent issue, again: The Starving ARTIST. Note the capitalisation.  Enters Nuria. The game changer. Authors Unleashed. Are you an author? Yes? Walk-in to our humble bookstore. And no, you don’t need a godfather either. More importantly, Nuria built a community around Kenyan/East African/African authors… ‘Unity in strength’, a powerful adage, that one. Now, the AUTHOR could truly be an ARTIST. COLLABORATE with other creatives (filmmakers, dancers, influencers, musicians, voice artists… package the book into visual (e-books, printed books, podcasts) and aural formats (audio books)… so immense, the possibilities.

Anyway, kinda hungry now, gotta end the narration. To some shout outs though for all the massive support for the Kenyan literary scene. Crimson Communications, e-Kitabu, cloudKitab Kenya National Library Services the City County of Nairobi (thanks for the two-day sponsorship that was the Tourism and Heritage exhibition at Aga Khan Walk) Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Sports and Arts, KBC Studio Mashinani, The Nation Media Group, The Standard Media Group, The People Daily, Base Radio, iHub/ccHub Alliance Francaise Gothe Insitut British Council Baraza Media Lab Creative Garage Senator Sifuna (will make good use of the recording studio), Wylde International SndBx (you unlocked the (future – msinipige ngeta jioni)billionaire in me and I now live more intentionally) UBA (thanks for wonderful sponsorship to an intense entrepreneurship course) Google Hustle Academy Microsoft Enuka… again, thanks Nuria. 

Most importantly, thank you a million times, dear reader. Without you, all would be vanity. Asante zaidi and keep on supporting us. We promise to get better and better for you in our craft. Today being the last day of the book fair, you have Sunday afte form to check out what we Kenyan/East African/African authors have to offer. Barikiwa zaidi!

(PS3: If not for the hunger, I was going to title the piece “The Nairobi International Book Fair: Reader meets Author, Author meets Publisher, Publisher Meets Technology, Technology Meets Reader”… quite a mouthful {see what I did there? Sometimes I think I am a genius, but my poverty tells otherwise}. Anyways, bye for now… lunch beckons.)

(PS4: ‘AI: The Rise of the Reader’… something about the fall of literature ‘gatekeepers’ with the advent of internet. Will later goggle on BooKTok and see the opportunities there. Sembe imeiva, sasa za ‘kabej’ zimuok. Thank you very important.)

(PS5: This article was written as the book fair unfolded… here it is now, past the event. Apologies for that.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My-Once Molly (Praying for a Rainbow),

Dear Molly, I hope you are ok and are keeping safe in these floods. As for me, I am heartbroken. I am in pain. My mind, my body, my spirit aches. I am numb with grief. As is the nation of Kenya. The picture just won’t get out of our minds – the father, trudging stoically, his dead, muddy son slung over his shoulder. It’s a devastating image… the screams, elsewhere, as a boat capsizes, the swollen river swallows a lorry… Izrael has visited the land. Dear Molly, a while back, the nation faced drought. Then, images of dead livestock, emaciated men, women and children, parched, cracked earth, haunted our screens. Elsewhere where there was a glut in food production, the farmers cried for their fellow starving countrymen. They demanded for lorries to traverse the rutted roads and take the produce to their brethren… collectively, we prayed for rain. Dear Molly... will we ever catch a break as Kenya? The Covid-19 pandemic that paralysed lives and livelihoods in 2020 as we recovered from th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lessons from Burundi: Comedy Season

Where I come from, we have an influx of foreigners. Already, we have an area by the name Congo, named so because it had an influx of Bakongo refugees, fleeing the war in their country… Congo, Zaire and back to DRC… The Democratic Republic of Congo. Very soon, we might have areas such as Sudan (South), Burundi, Rwanda, etc., etc. Fun fact, Dynamiq, He of ‘Remember them Days in Nairobi’ used to be our neighbour in Coast. Anyway, these Burundian have taken over the groundnut and the coffee (and KDF – the gluten stomach holder) hawking business. On their part, their Rwandan neighbours have taken over the phone accessories’ hawking business, almost as if by some tacit agreement – bilateral trade agreement or something. The Burundians, night and day, they trade, huge flasks of ready coffee, the mwananchi version, and buckets of said body-building, economic-miracle-worker, KDF in tow. Ever been served by a Ugandan lady? Down on their knees, submissive service that will have you selling your ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My-Once Molly (thinking of Valentine),

My-Once Molly… the girl who broke my heart, the one who got away, the one who promised me the world and left me to survive alone – typical of our Kenyan politicians… I hope you are good. Now, as February – the month of love – lurks about, I find myself thinking of you. Thing is, my dear Molly, I have new neighbours. A young couple, very much in love like we once were. The young lady, her name is Val… maybe Valentine… I don’t know. This Val, a spirited girl with rich, deep, heaving laughter - almost like yours. Her smile… ah! You should see it. The shine of the morning sun distilling the dew upon cool meadows… I am totally in love with her. Alarmingly, she teases me much and I am getting ideas… Molly, dear, wherever you are, please pray for me… the temptation is too much. If you don’t, the frail creature that I am may fall. This, despite having numerous songs in my playlist to warn me. Invariably, Majengo – that infamous locale – does a dishonourable appearance in most of them… ‘Maj...
Post a Comment
Read more