Dozens of women publishers and other women professionals in their industry congregated for the PublisHer forum in Nairobi on June 13, 2019.
The International Publishers Association (IPA) hosted a seminar with dozens of players in the publishing industry from Africa and further afield at the Mövenpick Hotel, Nairobi from June 14-15. Preceding the seminar was a dinner for the PublisHer initiative which featured dozens of women in the publishing industry on the continent. The PublisHer initiative was created by Bodour Al Qasimi, IPA Vice President and Kalimat Group founder and CEO, as a forum for women to discuss critical issues they face in the publishing industry.
The PublisHer evening started with a panel discussion the title “Overcoming Publishing’s Diversity Problem” moderated by Gina Din Group MD Lorna Irungu Macharia. Macharia’s panellists were Blackbird Books founder Thabiso Mahlape, AkooBooks Audio CEO Ama Dadson, and Cassava Republic Press co-founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf. Dinner guests from all over the continent got a chance to hear from these leading women publishers about their paths to success and their views on how the publishing industry can take action to address its diversity challenge.
After the panel, performer Maimouna Jallow wowed dinner guests with her one-woman show of Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. The book is about a man who has three wives who gets a fourth young university-educated wife and the drama that ensues when his newest catch fails to conceive.
Here are images from the dinner courtesy of its organisers Facebook page (you are welcome to join if you are a woman in publishing).
Leave a Reply