Nairobi's book bonanza: Upcoming shows set to reignite literary passion

Ten days from today , Nairobi will firmly be in the throes of the book season, where book lovers will be drinking from the well of the world of letters. This is a fine time to be in Nairobi if you are true lover of the written word.

Starting September 20 till 29, Nairobi will play host to two international book festivals that promise nothing but good tidings. The first one is the Macondo Literary Festival (MLF), which will take place from September 20 to 22, at the Kenya National Theatre, otherwise known as the Kenya Cultural Centre.

The second one is the Nairobi International Book Fair, organized by the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA), which will take place at the Sarit Expo Centre, in Westlands, from September 25 to 29. The two days in between are perhaps geared at giving festival-goers a breather due to the intensity of the programs.

An overkill? Any book lover worth their salt will tell you that there can never be enough of book events; in fact, as far as they are concerned, the more, the merrier. So, there you have it; one event completes and complements the other…

Let us start with the MLF. Now in its fourth edition, MLF, the brainchild of Anja Bengelstorff and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, an award-winning Kenyan author, it has made a name for itself for bringing in the cream of international authors, such as the 2021 Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, who graced the 2022 event.

Every year, MLF follows a certain theme as exemplified by the invited guests. The theme for this year’s Festival, The Sea is History, is inspired by a poem of the same title by Caribbean Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott.

“While the 2023 festival celebrated literature of all of the African continent’s linguistic currents—hosting authors who write in English, Portuguese, French, and Arabic—the 2024 edition will extend the festival’s geographic reach to the spheres of the Swahili Sea and the Indian Ocean,” says a statement from the organisers.

“’The Sea is History’, pays tribute to this oceanic region’s historical connections with Africa that exist in story, art, technology, cultural memories, and society.

From inception, Macondo Literary Festival’s anchor was and is African histories and futures from African perspectives in literature,” adds the statement.

Among the authors expected to headline the event is Kenyan-born Canadian author MG Vassanji, Janika Oza, also from Canada and Hamza Koudri from Algeria. Others are South African author Shubnum Khan, Shubhangi Swarup, from India, Johary Ravaloson (Madagascar), Jeferson Tenório (Brazil); and João Melo from Angola.

Homecoming

The Kenyan writers who will grace the event include Alexis Teyie, Scholastica Moraa, Scholar Akinyi, Buke Abduba, Khadija Abdalla Bajaber and Kiprop Kimutai.  

For Vassanji, it will be a homecoming of sorts. He was born in Nairobi but raised in Tanzania. Since his roots are in East Africa, it is inevitable that his writings have a local flavour. In his book, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, Vassanji tells the story of Vikram Lall, the grandchild of an Indian railroad worker, who comes of age in 1950s Kenya.

Now, 1950s Kenya was a time of turmoil, when the colonial government declared a State of Emergency, following the Mau Mau uprising.

It is against this backdrop that Vic and his sister Deepa search for their place in a world sharply divided between Kenyans and the British.

“Each festival offered 18 topical sessions and three craft workshops with platforms for emerging Kenyan writers and art forms including music, film, spoken word poetry, and exhibitions. With support from eKitabu, Macondo will, in 2024, continue its tradition of low entry fees to help make the festival as accessible as possible to all literature lovers.”

The 2024 edition of MLF is a collaboration of the Macondo Book Society and eKitabu. In 2024, Condé Nast Traveler Magazine listed MLF among the nine Best Literary Festivals in the World. The Macondo Book Society has in the previous three festivals hosted 59 authors and artists from 20 countries.

The name Macondo pays tribute to One Hundred Years of Solitude, a novel by Columbian Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Macondo is a fictional place, where magical things happen.

Charges for a single day entry are Sh800 advance and Sh1,200 at the gate, while a combo ticket for Saturday and Sunday will be Sh1,400 advance and Sh1,600 at the gate. Students will be charged Sh200 per day at the gate (student ID required)

Nairobi International Book Fair

This year’s NIBF will be different since the event will be celebrating 25 years of its existence. This is no mean feat considering that book fairs in Africa have been started with much fun fare but have fallen by the wayside. A good example is the Zimbabwe International Book Fair and the Cape Town Book Fair, which were much bigger in comparison to NIBF but found the going difficult and had to close shop.

Self-sustaining model

NIBF, on the other hand, has been going from strength to strength and is today marking its silver Jubilee. The secret, according to Kiarie Kamau, the chairman of KPA, is their adoption of the self-sustaining model, where members (publishers) make contributions, as opposed to relying on donor funds like the Zimbabwe and Cape Town events.

Another thing about NIBF is the collective spirit among members of KPA, which has seen them navigate tricky terrain when dealing with the government – through the Ministry of Education – which has seen them being the sole suppliers of educational curriculum materials to schools in the country.

With theme of ‘25 Years of Excellence and Innovation in Publishing’, KPA will through this year’s Fair be reflecting on the journey they have traveled to be where they are today.

“We shall be celebrating the iconic authors whose books have gained prominence courtesy of the fair,” explains Kamau. “Among these authors, we shall have the legends as well as the up and coming authors, who have already demonstrated that there is no vacuum in release of fiction that can stand the test of time.”

Kamau, who is also the CEO of East African Educational Publishers, adds that they will also be celebrating the pioneers of the NIBF who, “despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, were able to stay the course. It is due to their indefatigable efforts that NIBF survived turbulent times. And since charity begins at home, we shall be celebrating the publishing industry for its versatility in churning out a wide variety of reading materials, which cater for virtually all reading taste buds.”

“What started as a small local book exhibition has grown into a globally recognised international book fair, attracting local and international book enthusiasts in droves,” he says.

“It is a demonstration that NIBF has come of age, and is set to compete favourably with other leading book fairs in the world, such as the Sharjah International Book Fair, London International Book Fair and Frankfurt International Book Fair.”