It is that time of the year again!
Book lovers, book sellers and book buyers can mark their calenders because from Tuesday, September 25, the Sarit Centre mall in Nairobi will be hosting the 15th edition of the Nairobi International Book Fair. The theme for this year will be "Education and Peace" and it is not difficult to see why. Kenya is still feeling the bitter after-taste of the 2007 post-election violence in which hundreds of people were killed and over 650,000 displaced from their homes in three months of fighting after the results of the 2007 general election were disputed. Since then, there has been a concerted campaign to re-unite the divided nation through national healing and reconciliation campaigns while some of the leaders believed to have borne the greatest responsibility for the fighting have been taken to the International Criminal Court to stand trial. The case opens in April next year, just one month after the next general election.
What this means is that there is need to keep the peace campaigns going to ensure that violence does not recur next year and to foster national harmony even as the country enters a critical election campaign period. As such, the choice of the theme for this year's fair could not have been more appropriate.
Over the years, the stature of the fair has been growing considerable and if trends are anything to go by, soon it will be time for the organisers to find a bigger venue to accommodate the ever-growing number of visitors.
One of the highlights of the fair, of course, remains the awarding of the biennial Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize on the evening of September 29. This year, three books have been shortlisted for the fourth edition of the award named after satirist and columnist Wahome Mutahi who died nine years ago.
Ng'ang'a Mbugua's Different Colours is one of the shortlisted titles. The others are The Eye of the Storm by veteran columnist and surgeon Yusuf Dawood and David Mulwa's We Come in Peace.
Readers might remember that Ng'ang'a Mbugua's novella, Terrorists of the Aberdare, won the third edition of the prize and if he bags it this year, he will be the first Kenyan writer to bag the prize back to back.
Interestingly, though the award is meant for fiction from Kenya, authors from Tanzania have been submitting for the Kiswahili category of the Prize, an indication that the Kenya Publishers Association, which sponsors the award, might need to make the prize regional in coming years.
Tens of exhibitors, from Kenya and other countries from Africa and Asia are expected to showcase their books and other publications, e-readers and other technological gadgets that are transforming the way readers are interacting with books.
Of course, Big Books Ltd will be there too and the highlight of their stand will be its latest publication, The Wisdom of Steve Jobs, which gives readers congealed tips on business management and leadership that they can use to grow their own enterprises or excel in their careers. The publisher, whose titles are now available in e-book versions, will also be presenting e-readers to help potential readers familiarise themselves with the gadgets that will shape the future of reading.
See you at the fair. And spread the word.
