Creative writer speaks on self-publishing

Recently, www.Biasharasme.co.ke interviewed writer Ng'ang'a Mbugua, on the challenges and opportunities of self-publishing.
For the full interview, click here.
Ng'ang'a's novella, Terrorists of the Aberdare, is now available on kobo. His other works,  Different Colours, A Novel and The Wisdom of Steve Jobs, a motivational book, will also be available in e-book format in coming weeks. 

Authors launch book on Somalia

The book cover

Somalia has since 1994 been considered as the problem child of Africa because the country has never known peace since the exit of Siad Barre from power, an eventuality that plunged the horn of Africa nation into lawlessness that persists to date.
However, in recent months, the discourse on Somalia has changed dramatically, with positive news coming from the land that has achieved notoriety on account of its pirates who wangled billions of dollars from shipping lines and governments in ransoms for captured ships and crew.
Only a few weeks ago, world leaders met to discuss the fate of Somalia while Turkey in particular, has been keen to use soft diplomacy to lure the country back into the fold of the community of nations.
Somalis have not been left behind in this discourse and in recent months, they have produced films celebrating peace in Mogadishu while its painters have hosted exhibitions on peace and rejuvenation of their country even as AMISOM soldiers fight with al-Shabaab militias for control of the country.
Now, a new book of photographic images has been published to celebrate the landscape of a country that has been raped by war and wanton destruction of the environment in the pursuit of quick gains from charcoal export which has left the land bare as Somalia exports its black jewels to Arab countries. But more importantly, the book raises awareness about some of the good things that are happening in Somalia and which are yet to find space in the international media which is paying more attention to the pirates and terror groups that control swathes of the vast country and its ocean.
The book by Fatima Jibrell and James Lindsay was launched at the Goethe Institut in Nairobi on Tuesday evening to a packed hall and amid tight security following recent explosive attacks in the city that left at least one person dead and tens injured.
Peace and Milk, Scenes on Northern Somalia, was, according to James, who was at the launch, meant to create a positive image about Somalia to the rest of the world. But it also chronicled the days he and Fatima spent traversing northern Somalia, sometimes in searing heat. More importantly, it makes a case for cooking using solar energy which is both cheaper than wood and charcoal but could also turn out to be more economically viable on a large scale if, as James put it, Somalia can learn to trade the energy savings for carbon credits from the world's leading polluters.
The book, which is available in Nairobi at Bookstop, Yaya Centre, costs Sh1,500 (about $18) and has an accompanying DVD on the adverse effects of the multi-million shilling trade in charcoal on the fragile environment of the largely desert country.
The book has a sub-title derived from the way of greeting of the Somali people; Nabad Iyo Caano, which loosely means, peace and milk, apparently the commodities with the highest currency in Somalia, where many of the people keep livestock, including camel and goats. According to the authors, when Somalis meet, they ask each other: "Ma nabad baa?" (Is there peace) and the usual answer is likely to be "Nabad iyo Caano" (Peace and Milk)

One of the authors at the book signing at Goethe Institut, Nairobi, on Tuesday.

Commonwealth Book Prize winners named

The 2012, Commonwealth Book Prize winner was named on Tuesday, and it is Shehan Karunatilaka of Sri Lanka.

He won the Sterling Pound 10,000 prize for his book,Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, published by Vintage Publishing, Random House India.

Shehan was born in Galle, Sri Lanka. He studied Business and Administration at Massey University in New Zealand, after which he worked as an advertising copywriter. He has also written rock songs and travel stories.

Margaret Busby, the chair of the prize said of the book: “This fabulously enjoyable read will keep you entertained and rooting for the protagonist until the very end, while delivering startling truths about cricket and about Sri Lanka."

The story is narrated by a retired hard-drinking sports journalist on an obsessive quest for the mysterious Pradeep Mathew, who may just be Sri Lanka’s best all-time cricketer.
"Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew sets the standard high for the new Commonwealth Book Prize, which aims to discover new talent and energise literary output in the different regions," said Ms Busby.
Shehan was equally ecstatic about his win: "I was surprised to make it to the final five, considering how strong the Asia shortlist was. To win it is quite crazy. Now I just need to find a pub in Wales that serves arrack. It's a privilege to be part of a global prize that has recognised so many great writers over the years. I feel deeply honoured.”
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize went to Emma Martin of New Zealand, for her story, Two Girls in a Boat.
According to Bernardine Evaristo, the chair of the prize, the story was chosen "for its gorgeous, elegant and spare writing; its nuanced handling of time, place and relationships; its daring, provocative subject matter and clear-eyed exploration of the choice of heterosexual conformity in the face of sexual mutability."
Emma is yet to publish a book although she completed an MA in Creative Writing at the Victoria University of Wellington in 2010. However, her stories and essays have been published in literary journals and anthologies in New Zealand and the UK.
The awards were presented at the Hay Festival by the multiple prize-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The regional winners for the Book Prize were as follows.

Regional Winner, Africa
Jacques Strauss, South Africa, The Dubious Salvation of Jack V, Jonathan Cape

Regional Winner, Asia
Shehan Karunatilaka, Sri Lanka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, Random House

Regional Winner, Canada and Europe
Riel Nason, Canada, The Town that Drowned, Goose Lane Editions

Regional Winner, Caribbean
Alecia McKenzie, Jamaica, Sweetheart, Peepal Tree Press

Regional Winner, Pacific
Cory Taylor, Australia, Me and Mr Booker, The Text Publishing Company.

Kenyan publisher makes history by listing

Longhorn Kenya Limited has this week made history by becoming the first Kenyan publishing firm to list its shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The company will be selling about 58.5 million shares by introduction.
The shares, which debuted at the Nairobi Securities Exchange on Wednesday had an offer price of Sh14 each but the first deal sold 1,000 shares for Sh20 each before they closed the day at Sh16.15. Yesterday, they climbed to Sh17.75 on the second day of trading.
The bourse was closed today because Kenya is marking 49 years of internal self-rule. The day is a national holiday commemorating the country's independence from Britain in 1963.
On Wednesday, one of Longhorn Kenya's leading shareholder, Mr F.T. Nyammo, a member of Parliament for Tetu Constituency in Central Province, rang the bell ahead of the listing of the company's shares on the alternative segment of the exchange.
According to the Business Daily, yesterday's price valued the company at Sh1.03 billion. (The exchange rate against the dollar is Sh86.83).
Longhorn has published two books by Ng'ang'a Mbugua: Mwai Kibaki, Economist for Kenya, a junior biography of Kenya's third president, and Catherine Ndereba, Marathon Queen, also a junior biography of Kenya's award-winning marathoner.
A few years ago, the company sold a significant number of its shares to Centum, formerly ICDI, making the listed investment company the biggest shareholder in the publishing firm.
Most Kenyan publishing houses, including Longhorn, depend on the school market for the bulk of their sales.
Only last month, publishing companies and book distributors said they would stop supplying books to schools unless they cleared Sh4 billion in debts.

New book on Steve Jobs by African writer

What can young people learn from the business strategies that Steve Jobs employed so successfully in transforming Apple Inc from a small company into one of the most profitable and innovative in the world?
That is the question that the new book by Ng'ang'a Mbugua, which is published this month by Big Books Ltd, seeks to answer.
The 100-page title distills the business, entrepreneurship and leadership lesson that young people can borrow to start their own companies, become innovators in their work places and learn strategies that can transform them from ordinary performers into achievers.
The 100-page book is based on extensive research and has ten chapters, each examining an aspect of Steve Jobs' business life that transformed him into a global figure who not only changed the computing world but also the way companies do business with each and with their clients.
The book also examines Kenyan companies and individuals who have used similar attributes to achieve outstanding successes in their respective fields, from photojournalist Mohammed Amin to retail giant Nakumatt and East African Breweries Ltd, the maker of Kenya's most popular beer brand, Tusker.
Ng'ang'a Mbugua has borrowed immensely from his journalistic experience, working with the leading business newspaper in Kenya and also from his creative writing experience.
The author won the inaugural Pan-Africa Broadcast and Heritage Award (PABHA) for his journalistic work in 2000 and the Wahome Mutahi Literary Award (2010) for his work of fiction, Terrorists of the Aberdare. He has authored seven other books and a leading publisher is later next month expected to unveil his latest fiction offering.
A copy of The Wisdom of Steve Jobs, retails at only Sh400 and will soon be available in e-book format for oversees readers.
The book is expected to be in bookstores next week but one can get his or her copy sooner by emailing editor@bigbooks.co.ke.
A sample chapter will be made available to readers of this blog before Friday.
Enjoy.
To get a free sample chapter, email the author at mbugua@bigbooks.co.ke

Have Nook, will read award-winning novella by Ng'ang'a Mbugua

Have you read an e-book lately? Well, now you have a chance to devour another!

Starting today, readers anywhere in the world can buy the award winning novella, Terrorists of the Aberdare, from Barnes & Noble for only $4.99. Yes, that is the right price.

All one has to do is click here.

The novella won the Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize in 2010 and was First Runner-up in the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 2011. 

Readers unfamiliar with the work might be asking, what is Terrorists of the Aberdare all about?

Well, it is a love story. No kidding.

It is also a story of heartbreak, of a man striving after an ideal that turns out to be much too high and all too costly for him. But authors are not always the best people to speak about their works.

Alphonce Shiundu of the Daily Nation newspaper read the book some time back and wrote the following review.

Dr Mike Kuria of Daystar University, Nairobi, was reading the novella at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport not so long ago and recorded his unique experience here.

The book was launched in Kenya in 2010 with the support of the Goethe Institut, Nairobi. Dan Whipple, an American living Kenya, was one of the readers who attended the launch and wrote the following report.

There are readers who will ask: "How do I get to buy and read the e-book?"

If you own a PC, Mac or iPad, all you need to do is go to the Barnes & Noble Web site and download the right app for your computer. You will also need a credit card to pay for the purchase. Once you pay for the book, it will be downloaded to the Nook app on your computer and viola! you can dig your teeth right into it.

Too bad the author can't autograph the e-book but trust some genius to come up with an app for that one of these fine days.

But we say too much.

Enjoy your reading! And feel free to share your thoughts.

Want to buy a Kenyan novel? Try Rachel's online bookshop

Rachel Muthoni is one woman to watch.
Although she told me that she studied biomedical science and technology at Egerton University, she is passionate about books.
Today, Racheal has a full time job but she is keen on selling books. What's more, she delivers them to the readers for a modest fee, so they do not have to walk to a bookshop to look for the titles they want, saving them time especially if they have busy schedules or they find themselves too far from the nearest bookshop.
Her model is unique because in Nairobi, book sellers hardly give new Kenyan authors a chance to showcase their books even when they are using the consignment (also called sell or return) model. Under this model, the author or publisher leaves copies of his or her publications with a book seller and collects money only after the books are sold. If they are not sold, say within a month or any other agreed period, then the bookseller gives back the books. This comes at no cost to the bookseller, besides stocking the books in their shelves. But Racheal is different.
Together with her husband, Enock Essendi, a computer science graduate from Egerton University, she runs Racheal's Bargain Corner, probably Kenya's only online bookshop.
Her model is very simple. She does not stock the books herself. Instead, she only buys them from publishers or other bookshops (if the publisher is not in a position to sell her the books in time). Then she delivers the books to the customers, whether they are in Kenya or abroad.
What's more, the site offers even used books for as little as Sh200 (just slightly less than $3).
So, next time you are looking for a novel, whether by a Kenyan author or by a foreign writer, you might want to check out her book shop.
For more information, visit their Web site. And while there, you can order a copy of Terrorists of the Aberdare, the novella which won the Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize in 2010 and was runner up for the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 2011.
Enjoy