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Henry Chakava

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East African Publishers, Kenya

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nAfter graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1972, Henry Chakava was looking at postgraduate scholarshipnoffers from local and international universities. While thinking through his options, his lecturer at the Department of Literature,nProfessor Andrew Gurr, arranged a temporary job at the Nairobi office of Heinemann Educational Books Limited (HEB). This temporary jobninstead became a life dedicated to books as he fell in love with publishing.n

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nBeginning as an apprentice in 1972, Henry Chakava rapidly rose through the HEB ranks to become Managing Director in 1976. He retired inn2000 and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of East African Educational Publishers Limited, Heinemann’s successor.n

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nAfter initially starting as a net importer of books from the United Kingdom (UK), HEB began local production, growing a list whichnincorporated variety, including indigenous language books. Books by Africans, from Africa, about Africa, and with a primary Africannmarket were increasingly gaining demand. Along with former HEB Managing Director, Bob Markham, Chakava set up Tinga Tinga, whichnfocused on African books. The model involved reviewing the Kenyan catalogue, selecting books that would be of interest to a globalnaudience, and then shipping and stocking them in the UK for global distribution. Despite the slow uptake, it was hailed by those whonbenefited, especially scholars. So, when the idea to set up the African Books Collective was mooted in 1985, he embraced itnwholeheartedly. As part of our research into ABC’s foundation, tonmark our 30th anniversary, last year we asked those present at the beginning of this hugely important initiative a few questions.nHere is what we learnt from Henry Chakava… n

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nHow did you come to know the individuals/organisations that came to make up ABC at the start?n

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nThe 1980s was a period that saw a rising interest in African book publishing, both in Africa and abroad. Book-related events such asnconferences and exhibitions would be organised in Africa, the UK and Europe, and these efforts culminated in the formation of ABC.n

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nOne of the key founders of ABC, Hans Zell, who was the first manager, has meticulously documented the events leading to the establishment ofnABC. But what I can say is that two ‘Bookweek Africa’ events and exhibitions held at the Africa Centre in London, in 1982 and in 1985,nplayed a significant role in the eventual establishment of ABC.n

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nThere were also other events at the time which were a product of these collective efforts: the first Zimbabwe International Book Fair inn1983 and the Development of Autonomous African Publishing Capacity seminar organized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, in Arusha,nTanzania, in April 1984. Among other issues, there were discussions about the need for more effective marketing of African publishednbooks in the UK, Europe, and North America, and the need for collective action. I was a participant at that Arusha seminar, whichneffectively articulated issues relating to African books and African publishers venturing further afield.n

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nWith the support of Swedish SIDA and some other donor organizations, an ‘African Publishers Working Group Meeting on Collective ExportnMarketing and Promotion’ was convened at the Grafton Hotel, London from 13 – 16 October 1985. It had representatives from 11 Africannpublishers, including from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal. This was the gathering that led to the formation ofnAfrican Books Collective Limited, formally registered as a UK company limited by guarantee in January 1990, with actual tradingnactivities starting in May.n

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nWhat interested you about the initiative, what opportunities did you see, and how quickly did you agree to join up?n

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nMy tenure as MD of Heinemann saw the company drastically change its trading and operational models, especially with regard tondiversified publishing. I strongly believed that an Africa-based publishing firm had the moral and philosophical obligation to publishnlocally generated content, which would serve the continent better. At the same time, although I was working in a multinational,nHeinemann supported free thought, thanks to the progressive mindset of the Chairman, Alan Hill. I was therefore able to articulate mynideas during the various book events in Africa and Europe and warmed up to the 1985 discussions in London.n

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nTo me, this was a great opportunity for African publishers to explore the uncharted world, so to speak. It was a good chance to enablenAfrican-published authors to showcase their talent far and wide. Through this initiative, the world would get to know that, indeed, greatnwriting was coming out of Africa. And certainly, it would provide a new revenue stream for the struggling publishers and, by extension,nauthors. In particular, it would bring in the much needed foreign exchange. So I could only imagine how vibrant ABC would grow, surmount thenchallenges of having to plead with Western booksellers to have African-published books stocked in their stores, among other distributionnchallenges.n

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nEach of the founding members contributed £1,000, a considerable sum for independent publishers in 1990. Did this investmentngive you pause as the ABC model was untested?n

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nIndeed, £1,000 was a substantial amount of money at the time. Thankfully, my own £1,000 was paid by the outfit I have just mentioned, TinganTinga.nBut most of the founding publishers were struggling with a myriad of financial challenges. Yet, the resolve was strong among all of us. Nonhurdle would stand in our way. We were determined to experiment with the idea and the outfit, work diligently to make it a success, andnensure its sustainability.n

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In the end, we were vindicated.

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Do you recall the early challenges? And how did you tackle them?

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No new initiative is short of challenges, and ABC faced some headwinds during its formative years.

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nOne of the challenges was to develop and publish books that would meet international standards. Professional book editors and proof readersnwere very few, facilities for book production in Africa were not as advanced as in Europe, and printing high quality products locally wasnalso not guaranteed. It was therefore rather difficult to have a competitive edge against other products published in the UK and other partsnof Europe, America, and Australia.n

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nWarehousing was also a challenge. In the first place, rental premises in London have always been prohibitively expensive. Yet, ABC wasnoperating on a shoe-string budget, mainly supported by donors such as SIDA of Sweden, the Canadian CIDA, and the Rockefeller Foundation,namong others. We could therefore not take up a big space, however much we wanted to have huge stocks from all the participating publishers.n

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nThen there was the issue of creating a workable distribution model, with a base in London, but targeting Europe, Australia, and NorthnAmerica.n

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nWe also had to contend with the challenge of balancing between over-stocking and out-of-stock. On the one hand, we did not want to have hugenstocks due to constraints of space, yet on the other, we were wary of disappointing our few and faithful customers by running out of stock,nespecially on key titles. It was a delicate balancing act.n

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nDue to economies of scale, the ABC model did not lend itself to children’s books, which was sad because one of the strengths of EAEP was innchildren’s literature. At the same time, I strongly believed (and I still do) that the best way to showcase a people’s cultural products isnthrough children’s literature.n

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nDid ABC immediately open up opportunities for your respective publishing houses with the donor support, or was it a whilenbefore the benefits were evident? What hopes did you have?n

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nLet me start by saying that Heinemann Kenya, and later EAEP, wasnalready a fairly big publishing house by African standards. So as much as we were keen on ABC, we were not geared towards publishing fornABC per se. Our textbooks for primary and secondary schools in Kenya were performing well in the market, and ABC thereforenserved as the icing on the cake, so to speak.n

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nWe were however eager to expand the market for our scholarly and general trade publications, and ABC provided the perfect opportunity fornthis. Throughout the 1990s, EAEP’s books dominated the ABC list, and authors were particularly happy that their products were made availablento the rest of the world. They were also able to earn some additional revenues in the form of royalties accruing from ABC sales.n

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nIn addition, the ABC sales provided the much-needed foreign exchange, especially during a time when there were foreign exchange restrictionsnin Kenya, and availability of the US dollar or UK pound was not only good for business but also quite prestigious. We were therefore ablento run a fairly active dollar account.n

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nThe move to digitise was clearly exciting and a game-changer for the organisation. What did you think of it at the time andnsubsequently? What were the practical challenges?n

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nThis came at a time when we had started experiencing donor-fatigue. The support was waning, and we had to devise a self-sustaining model.nSuch a model required cost-containment measures to be implemented, which included reducing the rental space.n

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nSo when the idea of Print-on-Demand was mooted by the new manager, Mary Jay, we warmly embraced it because it meant saving on warehousingnspace.n

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nIn addition, I was cognisant of the fact that book publishing was headed the digital way, and this was just but the beginning of thatngradual transition.n

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nHowever, shipping physical stocks back to Kenya was rather expensive, and we had to wrack our brains on the best route to take: donate toncharity in London, pulp the books, or ship them at a cost, then price them well to recoup the shipment cost. In the end, the three modelsnwere adopted, based on the advice from my sales and marketing team.n

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nDigitising of the books was also not easy. It involved scanning of the physical books to create soft copies, since they had been developednusing the old book production methods. Such scanning would introduce typographical errors, hence the need for thorough proofreading to weednthem out, and this came at an additional cost.n

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nHow have you seen the African cultural landscape alter during the years of ABC’s existence? Particularly in terms of Africanncultural autonomy as an aspect of the liberation agenda?n

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nAfrican cultural landscape has undergone significant changes since the birth of ABC, 30 years ago. First, in terms of education. There is annincreasingly rising number of educated elites, most embracing the science-oriented courses and taking up globally recognised roles. Othersnhave gone into academia and published widely, both locally and internationally.n

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nThere is a shift in terms of research and books that are being published. A focus on themes relating to colonialism, fight for independence,nand so on, has increasingly been replaced by those touching on corruption in post-independent Africa, environmental issues, leadership,namong other contemporary themes.n

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nPublished works have become diverse by the day, and virtually every theme is being explored. In terms of ownership of publishing firms, mostnof the multinational firms in Kenya have either been bought off by local outfits (like in the case of Heinemann which was acquired by EAEPnin 1992), or they have exited the scene after being edged out by local players (like in the case of Evans Brothers and Nelson).n

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nIndigenous publishing firms are increasing by the day. Some are set up by former staff of mainstream publishing companies, while others bynindependent entrepreneurs who do not have training or experience in publishing. Then there are those that have grown from self-publishingninitiatives. Most of these are started by scholars, and they have contributed towards increasing the number of scholarly publications innAfrica. Such publications have found space on the ABC list.n

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nHow healthy do you consider the African knowledge production landscape going into the future? Are there any particular trendsnyou see coming with new technology?n

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nThe terrain is clearly set for a vibrant future, especially in Kenya. Most publishers are embracing new publishing technologies very fast,nnew players are getting onto the scene, and partnerships with international players are also becoming a reality.n

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nThe increasing number of young techno-savvy and innovative graduates is helping in the shift towards digital publishing and online sales.nThis has seen a rise in works that are available as e-books, digital revision materials, and even animated versions of textbooks.n

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nAfrican governments are also supporting this shift by coming up with policies at the curriculum development centres, as well as guidelinesnon how to develop interactive digital content. They have also set aside substantial funding for rollout of digital learning, includingnrolling out programmes to supply digital devices to school children.n

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nThe world is more closely connected than it was when ABC began. Will there be more collaborations with Northern publishers andnuniversities? How do you see future relationships with the Northern knowledge industry?n

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nYes, indeed. Collaborations are bound to increase, especially through digital publishing and online sales. It is now easy to co-publish andnhave a book simultaneously launched in a number of countries, even continents.n

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nThe ease in acquiring rights, thanks to modern information and communication technologies, is also a boon to the concept of collaborations.n

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nThe only downside is that most publishing firms have concentrated on school books, so we are yet to have a proliferation of bold publishersnready to invest in trade and scholarly publishing, which lend themselves well for collaborations.n

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nIn addition, although technology has brought about endless opportunities, it has also eased in other negative aspects, like publishing andntrading in counterfeit books. This is killing creativity, and unless concerted efforts are put in place, it is likely to demoralise authors,nleading to less production of new titles.n

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How do you see ABC’s future and what hopes do you have for African publishing?

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nABC can only get better. First, advancements in modern technology have tremendously eased the ABC model of operations. Even before thenCovid-19 ‘new normal’, ABC had already adopted the concept of ‘working from home’, thanks to technology and a futuristic mind-set.n

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nABC has been able to contain operational costs and hence consistently increase profitability, due to this futuristic mind-set that looks atnthe laptop as an office in itself, as opposed to having a physical office. This will continue to define its operations.n

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nStill on technology, digital books have continued to gain currency, especially the categories that sit well on the ABC catalogue. It isneasier and faster to publish digitally, because the time-consuming and financially impacting physical printing is not there. This model willntherefore be a major contributor to ABC’s growth.n

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nThe growth of African publishing firms, from self-publishers who endeavour to produce professionally done books, to big firms that havenvariety, means that ABC’s list keeps growing. I anticipate much more growth in this arena in terms of more titles, wider categories, andnmore revenues.n

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nI also must mention that the founder council members have now exited the scene and ushered in new and younger blood, which is expected tonbring in new, and shall I add, bold, ideas to ABC. With this change, I expect renewal and reinvigoration of ABC.n

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nIn terms of its engagements at book exhibitions such as the London and Frankfurt book fairs and at American university centres, Inanticipate a bigger physical and virtual ABC stand, more involvement of authors during the fairs, more trading in rights, among others.n

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nIn a nutshell, just like I am proud to see the significant growth of ABC in the last 30 years, I am certain that the year 2050 will find ABCnswirling in space, serving continents and countries with every imaginable form of reading material from Africa.n

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Tanaka Chidora

Zimbabwean poet, literary critic, and academic

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Tanaka Chidora is a Zimbabwean poet, literary critic, and academic who teaches Creative Writing and Theories ofLiterature at the Department of English at the University of Zimbabwe. His poetry collection BecauseSadness is Beautiful?is out now. Tendai Rinos Mwanaka, from Mwanaka Mediaand Publishing,interviews him on his life and writing.

Tendai Rinos Mwanaka (TRM): Who is Tanaka Chidora?

Tanaka Chidora (TC): I am an academic, literary critic, blogger, and writer. I have a single collection of poems titled BecauseSadness is Beautiful?and a short story that appears in Chitungwiza Mushamukuru:An Anthology from Zimbabwe’s Biggest Ghetto Town.I am currently working on my first novel and a collection of short stories.

TRM: Where were you born? Give us an idea about your early childhood and how it influenced your writing.

TC: I was born in Masvingo and spent half of my childhood in the village and the other half in Mbare, Harare. One of thethings that the village afforded me as a writer is its expansive landscape, which made me appreciate how the landscape cannot be divorcedfrom my understanding of myself and the world I live in. So you will see that in my prose. I try by all means to make the landscape acharacter, a person. Remember that in ‘Days of the Sun,’ a short story that was published in your anthology (Chitungwiza Mushamukuru),I paint these graphic pictures of the Chigovanyika landscape. The ability to use imagery to describe the landscape was honed in the villagewhere all these vistas were there to be captured. But the truth is, the ghetto of Mbare gave me a certain sensitivity to what it feels liketo be human and to live on the margins. So my poems and prose hugely focus on life on the margins, so that the aesthetic that drives mywriting is really a ghetto aesthetic, but this time from an insider’s perspective.

TRM: So how do you strike a balance between the village character and the ghetto character, or how do you supress the other…how do you deal with the disjunction, do you compartmentalise?

TC: In poetry, it’s easier to merge the two. I write one piece that captures the boiling turmoil of the ghetto and anothernostalgic one that captures the vanishing idyll of the village. I haven’t tried yet to merge the two in a work of prose. The novel I amworking on is set in the ghetto. The second prospective novel features the diaries of a commuter aboard the ZUPCO bus, which is still anurban setting. But since the diaries are not just about what happens before boarding the ZUPCO and aboard the ZUPCO, but feature thecommuter’s remembrances, there are chances that the narrative will feature village scenes, especially those that are triggered by the eventsin the city. It’s different with the Shona poems that I am working on though. So far, many of the poems I have written in Shona feature avillage voice — slow, measured, so that in the mind of the reader, it’s a broke pensioner recounting his past life, especially his pastvillage life, while imbibing opaque beer at the village township.

TRM: And who is this village pensioner?

TC: [He laughs.] That’s a good question. It’s an imaginary character whose voice I use in my Shona poems. The voice is anamalgamation of the many voices of the elderly pensioners who now stay in the village but who I encountered during my childhood in thevillage — the uncle who used to work for the Cold Storage Commission back in the good old days of the old currency, when a single pay chequewas enough to afford him a drinking binge that would last for weeks while still taking care of the family; the retired headmaster who stillbehaves like a headmaster at family gatherings and funerals; the Wenera returnee with exotic paraphernalia like a bicycle and an Okapiknife; the guy who used to work for the NRZ and was the first to own a television in the village; the retired gonyeti driver withunbelievable tales of escapades in foreign lands… But the voice is also mine, created specifically to imagine what I will look like 30years from now if the current hiccups persist: a retired academic reading stale newspapers on the verandah of a crumbling bottle store whilereminiscing on the good old days of academic conferences and trips to foreign lands to the astounded disbelief of young village voyeurs!

TRM: What is your writing process(es) like? How do you come to a writing or how does a writing cometo you… And how do you get to the point when you say, ‘Here is what I have created’?

TC: Writing comes to me. I really do not look for it. Like Bukowski, I believe that if it really requires that I should goshopping for it, then it’s not meant for me. It should come to me, find asylum in me and cry for me to get it out onto the laptop’s screen.It’s the waiting though that requires a bit of patience because sometimes it feels like it will never come. You really need to be perceptiveenough to be able to recognise the tell-tale signs of its presence when it eventually comes. Sometimes it comes as a word, a phrase, anevent. I still remember when we were having a WhatsApp conversation with a friend in 2018 and he mentioned, in passing, something aboutarmed peace. That phrase triggered something in me and I held on to it like it was a lifeline or something. When I finally wrote a poem withthe same title, I dedicated it to him. Sometimes it comes when you are watching a movie, or after an argument with your spouse, or afteryour boss behaves like a Pharisee of sorts. There are times when it comes when you are sad (I love that one!), angry, or when something israging inside you and you want to send the Gadarene swine somewhere. Writing becomes the exorcism you are desperate for. When I am happy, Ising. Hehehehehe!

TRM: And you are also an academic. You said writing comes to you naturally. Do you thinkart/creativity can be taught then?

TC: That’s a tough one because I actually teach creative writing at the university. But the thing is, while teaching, I cansee that this one has it in them, that one doesn’t. I think teaching merely reinforces what is already in existence in an individual. Ifit’s not there, if we have to move heaven and earth to plant it in a person, we have to admit that it’s not there. A student may pass mycourse but go on to avoid writing like it’s a plague or something. Do you know why that happens? Because that student has not been called towrite. Writing is a calling. But then, sometimes a potential writer may not be aware of what is inside. Such a writer needs a teacher tolead them by the hand and unveil to them the gem that lies hidden inside.

TRM: What do you teach them?

TC: I can’t say I teach them how to create. I don’t think that can be taught. I expose them to various artistic creationswith the hope that somewhere along the way, they discover their voices and create their own pieces. When they bring those pieces to me, and Idiscover that their pieces can be improved by reading so-and-so’s work, I advise them to do so. That way, they own their voices. I don’tlike imposing my voice on students’ work. They will end up creating the world in my own image, and that is the worst kind of dictatorship.

TRM: But as someone looking from outside, why do most of the ‘taught creative writing writers’write the same way? How does a teacher avoid being a teacher when he is teaching?

TC: I am not sure about the assertion that taught creative writers write the same way, but I believe that teaching peoplehow to write creates stuff that has an acquired taste. Very mechanical stuff. As a teacher, I am aware of the multifarious stirrings of thehuman mind and I must be open-minded enough to accept that my way is not the only way. My students are teachers in their own right!Sometimes they come up with these amazing pieces from which I learn a thing or two. One of the things that I have always tried to inculcatein my students is that during my lectures, we create together. We write together. We sometimes create these crazy pieces in which each of uscontributes a single sentence or line. We call it ‘The Thing Without a Name’ (obviously inspired by Naipaul). The idea came when my creativefriend (Millicent Yedwa) and I decided to write a poem titled ‘Tales of a Cat in its Ninth Life.’ We are still writing that poem. But whatinterested me was the fact that each of us interpreted the title differently, and so what we have are alternating verses that read like twoalternating worlds. This means we cannot see the world using the same eyes. Creative writing is simply describing the world the way we seeit. So I can’t impose my way of seeing things. I have to let go and let inspiration lead. And that’s where things become really interesting!

TRM: Okay, let’s go back to the ghetto character. How do you convert garbage into art? Ghetto lifeis grim and ungraceful… by what process do you turn it into aesthetics?

TC: I think literature by its very nature utilises dystopian conditions to create terrifying beauty. That’s what it does.Look at my anthology, published under your stable. I wrote those poems in 2018 and 2019 when the country and individual lives wereundergoing serious changes, largely in the negative (except for a few lives). My philosophy is: when confronted with such grim realities,what should a writer do? Cry?

So writing becomes a way of creating order out of the chaos of life, a way of trying to find meaning in this otherwise complicated existenceof ours.

As a Zimbabwean, this should be familiar. Writing, for a Zimbabwean writer like me, is the only home possible. And if writing is a home, ithas to be beautiful, so that even if I am capturing the grim reality of Mbare, I have to do it in a beautiful way, you know, that beautythat is so raw and honest that a reader would want to embark on a trip to Mbare to see for themselves.

So even where I am describing death (and I have done so when I wrote two poems about my grandmother’s death), I have to redeem a certainbeauty from it. I hate mourning and wailing. Take coronavirus for instance. Most of the poems I have read should not be allowed to get into ahospital ward where coronavirus patients are being treated. They will die from the mourning contained therein. Something must be redeemedfrom the drudgery of this life. Writing affords us that opportunity.

TRM: What are your interests outside literature and writing?

TC: I love music. I love listening to music; I love creating it. When my young brother was still alive, I wouldoccasionally visit his studio and we would create music for fun. I actually have a couple of songs that we made from those occasional visitsto the studio. But since his passing, I haven’t really done any music.

TRM: You were close to your young brother?

TC: Very close. He actually was not my blood brother. He was this talented young man who stayed in Mbare but looked up tome as a brother. He was on his way to something really big and international when his life was cut short at the tender age of 25. I wrote apoem for him titled ‘Nostalgia (to Leeroy Nyamande).’ It’s there in Because Sadness is Beautiful?

TRM: I suppose writing the poem was your way of dealing with his loss? Is that your main way todeal with loss?

TC: “Grief tastes like sugar if we move our tongues along the right edges.” I have forgotten the name of the poet who saidthose words but I find them to be very apt. So yeah, writing poems is also my way of dealing with loss.

TRM: If he were alive what song would you like to do with him?

TC: ‘The things we do.’ It’s the last song I had written before his passing.

TRM: What kind of music do you like?

TC: Soul; lovers’ rock, 80s and 90s RnB, hip hop.

TRM: And in Zimbabwe… what is your favourite music?

TC: I am really selective. I like the Zimdancehall Movement for its raw and petulant delivery. But I do not like all of theartists in that movement. I like Poptain, Ras Caleb, Dadza D, Guspy Warrior, Kinnah, Seh Calaz, Freeman, Jay C, Celscious, DaRuler. I likeTocky Vibes too.

Outside the Zimdancehall movement, I like Ex Q, Trevor Dongo, Alexio Kawara, Nox, Charlie Kay, Rocqui, Kikky Badass, Blackbird, JuniorBrown, Munetsi, Tehn Diamond, Noble Stylez, Ngoni Kambarami, etc.

There are particular urban grooves artists whom I wish would bounce back, like Sebede. I like Zim hip hop, especially where the flow is likethe late King Pinn’s.

TRM: I was reading the latest academic work by Zvikomborero Kapuya, Not Yet Post Colonial: Essays on Ghetto Being,Cosmology and Space in Post Colonial Zimbabwe,where he dwelt on Zimdancehall music in one of the chapters. I also read an essay from Rumbidzai Doreen Tiwenga on Zimdancehall… Ialso read about your interest in the music… Why are the young Zimbabwe academics interested in this music that sounds to olderlisteners shallow most of the time? What is attracting you to this music?

TC: I think it’s the subversive potential of the music. Zimdancehall is a youthful genre, and for some of us whose youthera is fast disappearing in the turmoil of being Zimbabwean, this is it! It’s a way of throwing all decorum to the wind and confronting ourrealities with the raw, petulant, and vulgar tools at our disposal. So for some academics like myself, and those you have mentioned, thereis this attempt to find revolutionary meaning in it even where some of the musicians might not be really aware of the philosophy drivingtheir music.

TRM: What did you find is the philosophy that drives this music?

TC: It’s a philosophy that is developed from living on the margins for too long. The youth are touted as the future, yetfor long they see that future being jeopardized by the politics of the elders. So what the Zimdancehall aesthetic does is to throw away thebaby and the bathwater. In other words, they reject being programmed youths. And they do this by creating art at the margins and thencoaxing themselves to the centre of the national imaginary using the tools that are at their disposal, in this case, music. Some of them maynot be able to articulate this philosophy the way I am doing here, but many revolutionary acts were carried out by people who were not evenaware of what they were doing.

TRM: What then is your job as an academic or critic?

TC: My job is to explain such musical phenomena and assign meaning to them.

TRM: What poem or poet do you hate?

TC: I don’t hate. But I do not like to see evidence of a poet trying too hard to impress the reader!

TRM: Are you scared of throwing a rotten egg on someone?

TC: Not really. But I am really incapable of hating a writer. I may not like their work, but hate them? No.

TRM: What poem or poet do you love?

TC: I love Bukowski and his philosophy of writing. If you look at his philosophy very closely, you will see that Bukowskibelieves that writing should not be hard labour. It should come naturally, by itself. If it’s not there, don’t force it. That is why I donot like pretentious pieces. A poet should not make poetry go where the poet has not been before.

TRM: What makes a great poem?

TC: The poet’s honesty. You should read a poem and commune with the poet’s soul, not something created outside the poet’sinner universe.

TRM: Tell us about the writing scene in your country.

TC: People are writing. We have all sorts of writers. What we do not have is a publishing industry. That one is dead.Really, really dead. So for many local authors, after writing a book, one has to think of how to push volumes. So you see most of themlugging suitcases full of copies of their most recent books. I don’t think a real industry should make writers do that. There should bepeople who concentrate on the publishing and marketing side while the writer concentrates on creating the product. But in Zimbabwe, suchstructures are dead.

TRM: What do you think destroyed those structures? And what can be done to rebuild them?

TC: Most things hinge on the economy, I guess.

TRM: If you were a poem what form will you be in?

TC: Free verse!

TRM: Thank you for the chat. Are there any parting words?

TC: Parting words? There ain’t no parting. Let’s just say, so long, and thanks for the chat.

TRM: Hahaha, okay man.

Akoss Ofori-Mensah

Sub-Saharan Publishers, Ghana

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Akoss Ofori-Mensah is a Ghanian publisher and the founder of Sub Saharan Publishers, Accra. Akoss has served on theGhana Book Publishers Association as the Honorary Secretary and Vice President. She was elected President of the Association from2003-2005. She has been a member of the African Publishers Network (APNET), the IBBY Executive Committee, and sits on African BooksCollective’s Council of Management.

African book production has often been criticized as poor quality, what are some of the developments in the area now?

The days of African published books being of poor quality are over. Henry Chakava of East African Educational Publishers once wrote that”Books published in Africa do not travel beyond their national borders. A cursory look at most of these will reveal glaring spelling errorsand bad grammar even in the preliminary pages and blurb.”(1997). At the Bologna Book Fair in 2004, Tainie Mundondo of the African PublishersNetwork (APNET) put up a beautiful display of African children’s books. We went out for lunch and on our return we found that the stand hadbeen stripped bare! Everything was gone, including the APNET banner! We almost fainted! Formerly, nobody would have touched the stand;African children’s books in the 1980s were not worth stealing.

The first Sub-Saharan books were printed in the UK and Belgium; but when I met Book Printing Press from Mauritius in Harare, I changed tothem. Their prices were far lower than what I used to get from the UK. A few years later the company broke up, so I found new printers inEastern Europe. The Far East and Eastern Europe have excelled as the places for cheap and high quality printing. Many African publishersprint in India, Turkey, Dubai, China, Malaysia etc. The only problem with the Far East is that the shipment takes too long to arrive inAfrica. In fact even the big time publishers of Europe and America print in the Far East.

Books are difficult commodities to sell and if the production quality is not up to international standards they become impossible to sell:even if the content is top-class material. People do not look at this if it is shoddily produced.

The Ghanaian government has put some measures in place to protect local industry hasn’t it?

Several factors make it cheaper to print outside Ghana than internally. First of all Ghana does not produce paper and other printing inputs,such as ink, films and plates. Secondly, there are import duties on paper and print materials, whereas the printed book comes into thecountry without any duty because Ghana is a signatory to the BernConvention/Florence Agreement.

When the Ministry of Education in Ghana divested itself of textbook publishing and invited local publishers to develop the books in 2004,one of the conditions stipulated in the contracts was that 20% of the work must be printed in Ghana. Only the Teachers’ Guides were printedlocally: the successful publishers printed their books outside. In 2007, all textbooks were still printed outside. The printers in Ghanawere extremely bitter. To boost the local printing industry in Ghana, the government passed a law in 2015 making the printing of Ghanaianschool textbooks outside Ghana a criminal offence. To make it easier and cheaper for the printers, the government has removed the VAT onpaper and printing materials meant for textbooks.

There have been a myriad of donor and government supported literary and educational initatives in West Africa. Who do you thinkhave been the key players in the area?

The measures put in place by local governments, such as that of Ghana’s Education Service, in collaboration with outside agencies over thelast ten years provide an example of how inside and outside players can interact to bring about beneficial change.

Education in Africa has been supported by donors for quite some time and in the 1980s The World Bank insisted that governments/Ministries ofEducation should divest themselves of book publishing and allow private publishers to take over. Immediately all foreign publishersnationalized as local publishers. Other new players came on the scene and book publishing started to develop.

There has been a concern to improve literacy among children in Ghana over the last two decades. Between 2000-2017 there has been some majorprojects in Ghana supported by USAID and UNICEF to promote early literacy among children .. The first, called EQUALL (Education Quality forAll) and the second, NALAP (National Literacy Acceleration Programme). These projects were based on the belief that if a child learns toread and write in his/her mother tongue he/she can learn other languages much more easily. Ghanaian published books were translated intolocal languages for use in the projects for the primary schools. The officers in charge talked to the publishers whose books were selectedand negotiated a flat fee for all. The project paid about US$100) per title. The publishers involved did not make a fuss because it was anational project (a kind of corporate social responsibility). These local language readers were distributed to the primary schools.

Earlier, in 2006-2010, a similar project was undertaken to produce early learning Teaching & Learning Materials (TLMS),again supportedby the USAID-Barbara Bush Project. The materials were developed by the Ghana Education Service and staff from Chicago University. Thematerials developed were based on the Ghana Education Service curriculum.

In late 2015, USAID, through an organization called Fhi360 and the Ghana Education Service again purchased early reading materials in bothlocal languages and English for distribution to kindergartens and lower primary schools in the country. Over 3,500,000 books in English werepurchased for kindergarten and lower primary schools together with over 750,000 books in local languages.

Currently, UNICEF has ordered more copies of the same books to supplement what USAID bought. All these books were written and published inGhana by Ghanaians. Publishers had to distribute the books to their assigned schools and produce evidence of delivery before they were paid.

Some NGOs also produce such readers to support their programmes: for example Biblionef has produced the CAT AND DOG series and KathyKnowles, of the Osu Library Fund, often produces readers for her libraries.

It is well-known that the many years of civil wars destroyed practically everything in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Once peace was restored,the country had to start again from scratch. When the Canadian Organization for Development throughEducation (CODE)started their reading programme in the region they were buying readers from Sub-Saharan Publishers (SSP). Then they had locals to write andillustrate stories. SSP organized the design and layout for them. Once the print files were ready we sent them to a printer of CODE’s choicein the Far East to print the books. We advised CODE to get them an Apple computer and the Indesign software: our designer then used to go toMonrovia for short, 10-day breaks to teach young people there book design.

Africa writers, illustrators and publishers are busily working to produce books which meet their respective national syllabus requirements.Textbooks need to be culturally relevant for the students. The Ghana Education Textbook Policy, for example, stipulates that at least 70% ofthe content of a textbook must be written by Ghanaians. Thus textbook curricula are mostly country specific.

You are well-known for your rights selling and buying, your children’s list these days is not even restricted to storieswritten in Ghana. What have been some of your recent successes?

I have personally published a reader written by an Ethiopian, and illustrated by a Ghanaian. The book was launched by the Ethiopian embassyin Accra. I just sold the rights for that book to Rwanda and it has been published in Kinyanrwanda. I have also bought the rights for booksfrom South Africa and published them in Ghana. In fact I dare say that I have sold more copies of Niki Daly’s Jamela’s Dress inGhana than Tafelberg has done in South Africa.

Gizi Gizo is an example of a reader written by an Americanintern working with the Zongo Community in Cape Coast. The story is based on the desire to use water as a means to improve the quality oflife for the Zongo people. Zongo settlements are areas in West African towns and cities, inhabited predominantly by settlers from thenorthern sahel region formerly dominated by Hausas from Northern Nigeria. The language in these zongos is predominantly Hausa.

The Stories Spread across the World is another example from afar which has come back to Ghana. It is a typical Ghanaian folk taletaken to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade. I first saw the book in Guadalajara, flipped through and guessed the tale. Ihave had it translated into English and published it. The story was originally written in Portuguese and illustrated by a Brazilian.

Sosu’s Call has been published in Castillian and Catalan inSpain, in English in North America, South Africa and the UK, in Portuguese in Brazil, in German, Danish , Italian, in French, Czech,Kiswahili, in Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan and Simplified Chinese in Mainland China. In fact I sold six of the Meshack Asare titles toRainbird Educational Publishers ten years ago at the first Cape Town Book Fair in 2006.

Irrespective of where a book is written or the language, once people know it and get interested in it, it will travel.

Donors are pushing for change in Africa, particularly around the provision of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs). What aresome of your thoughts about some of the initatives proposed from where you sit as an African publisher publishing in Ghana?

Often there is a belief that those who fail to embrace the digital TLMS now will become obsolete or fall behind. Some content might interestlearners and teachers; other content may not. Although digital books and TLMS may eventually replace printed books, it is likely to be agradual process. In fact, from the experience of African Books Collective, the rush for ebooks has plateaued and the demand for the printedbook has grown.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) cannot behave like the proverbial ostrich so far as digital TLMs are concerned; the development in new technologiesvis a vis teaching and learning materials in SSA cannot be overlooked. However, the choices are neither simple nor cost efficient, and thereis perhaps no viable substitute for the traditional book, at least for the moment. Over the next decade or two, the most cost-effectiveapproach may be a combination of printed materials and digital TLMS, especially for the teaching of science.

For NGO’s operating on donor funding this is quite feasible, but for commercial publishers it might be difficult. A meeting with commercialpublishers to discuss the issue and find mutually acceptable ways is necessary.

The expense involved in the digital migration vis a vis the traditional book must also be considered. The cost of computers, tablets,phones, etc. In addition to the cost of set-up, should be compared with the cost of funding print runs and distribution to decide which ismore cost effective.

It may be that the cost of computers, tablets, phones, etc., plus the cost of set-up, is the more expensive option. Besides, the issue ofelectric power is a real problem in Africa. Nigeria is the biggest producer of oil in Africa, but it might interest you to know that peopleare always queueing for petrol while practically everybody in Nigeria owns a generator. In some parts of Lagos it is difficult to sleep atnight due to the cacophony of noise from generators. At the same time the cost of replacement of spoilt computers might be more costly thatthat of printed books.

There are large numbers of children in rural communities. In Ghana electricity is expensive, and the supply is so irregular that evenindustry cannot support it, while the domestic users cannot afford to pay for it. If a family cannot buy electricity for the home how is achild going to read on his /her computer, or tablet, or charge her phone.? How does he/she get the money for the internet café?

Then the cost of replacement of spoilt computers/tablets, phones, etc., must be taken into account as against reprints. Elementary schoolteachers will also have to be ICT literate to be able to teach digital TLMs. That is another huge investment required in teacher training.

I believe that the book as we know it will stay with us for many generations to come. You can go to bed with your book: when you fall asleepit falls down on the bed or on the floor. When you wake up it is still there, intact. You cannot do that with your computer.