Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Petina Gappah are two of the many delegates set to attend the International Publishers Association Africa Seminar in Nairobi from June 14-15, 2019.
At the Nairobi International Book Fair 2018 opening ceremony, the Kenya Publishers Association chairman Lawrence Njagi announced that the International Publishers Association (IPA) would be holding a seminar in Nairobi, Kenya. Earlier in the year, it emerged that the seminar would be hosted at the Movenpick Hotel, Nairobi from June 14 – 15, 2019. The seminar theme would be “Realising Africa’s Potential as a Global Publishing Leader in the 21st century.”
On March 13, the International Publishers Association announced the program and delegates who would attend the seminar. Sessions will cover education; copyright protection and piracy; developing the next generation of Africa’s publishers, writers and artists; digital disruption; the threat of self-censorship; how to create tomorrow’s readers; the struggle to preserve Africa’s indigenous languages; and the need for data.
The authors who will feature include Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Petina Gappah, and Peter Kimani who between them have many books. The International Publishers Association will be represented by its vice president Bodour Al Qasimi and the chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee Kristenn Einarsson. The local organising team is led by Lawrence Njagi the chair of the Kenya Publishers Association.
The other publishers to feature will be Samuel Kolawole the chair of the African Publishers Network, Ernest Oppong the acting Executive Director, African Publishers Network, Anges Félix Ndakpri the President of the Ivorian Publishers Association, Brian Wafawarowa the former President of the Publishers Association of South Africa, Chidi and Chika Nwaogu the Co-founders of Publiseer, John Mwazemba the General Manager of Oxford University Press East Africa.
It’s not only publishing associations or companies that will be represented at the two-day seminar. There will also be Elinor Sisulu the Executive Director of Puku Children’s Literature Foundation, Dora Susan Salamba-Makwinja the Executive Director of the Copyright Society of Malawi, Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele the co-founder of the Cheeky Natives books podcast, Gersy Ifeanyi Ejimofo– Founder, Digital Back Books, and Khanya Mncwabe the Centre Coordinator of PEN South Africa.
If you like this lineup, registrations for the seminar are open at http://kenyapublishers.org/form/
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