All is not well with handling of Nairobi book fairs

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.

But despite this publishing history and legacy, Kenya’s publishing is slow in adopting and adapting to changes that have pushed publishing to spectacular heights elsewhere in the world. And this is where the Nairobi International Book Fair should be playing a significant role. Why?

Budding writers
First because publishers exist to publish. Without manuscripts, they wouldn’t have a reason to exist. Yet in many cases our publishers are not looking for manuscripts.

Speaking to budding and even established authors will reveal that manuscripts get “returned” — not rejected — without having been read.

This demonstrates that there is little or no capacity to sustain the industry in terms of search and identification or even commission of potential writers and manuscripts that could turn into bestsellers. It often seems that most Kenyans who successfully publish locally either do so by chance or are beneficiaries of some “network”.

Book Fair would be a stage for budding writers in any genre and of whatever skills to meet established hands and minds, interact and learn from the masters and “mistresses” or even from among themselves.

In other words, there is need for the event to create more “interactive” space, which would also allow publishers to spell out clearly whatever it is they look for in a “publishable” manuscript. In fact such meetings would greatly break the ice between potential writers and editors.

Secondly, the book fair is associated with the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature award and as such is a significant moment in the lives of many authors whose books would have been submitted for consideration by the judging panel.

This is the Caine, the Noma, the Man Booker. This is the watershed for Kenyan authors. But how comes this much anticipated event seems to be arriving in silence?

Why is there no rustling in Nairobi about whose book is shortlisted, who might win and who might miss out this year, what might clinch it for X and lose it for Y? You know all the noises that precede those international awards. I haven’t met any “expectant” Kenyan author in town lately.

Yet the prize is a few weeks away. The point I seek to make is; the Jomo Kenyatta Prize can be the catalyst for a literary renaissance in this country. The announced increase in prize money is just too little.

A writer, if she is deemed to be our best for the next year, deserves some recognition.