14th Nairobi International Book Fair (Courtesy of poeticjustness.blogspot.com)
The 14th Nairobi International Book Fair was opened today in Nairobi by the Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Professor Francis Gichaga at the Sarit Centre.
The exhibition comes at a time when some members of the publishers association have lamented that the quality of education will go down if the tax the government proposes in a new bill is implemented. The prices of textbooks are likely to rise if proposals contained in the Draft VAT Bill, 2011, are approved.
According to media reports, the Bill proposes to remove printed books from the VAT zero-rated goods category to become taxable at 16 per cent. This means that the subsidy that the government gives to schools will be eroded by the anticipated increases in the cost of books.
In his welcoming speech captured in the exhibition magazine, the Kenya Publishers Association Chairman Lawrence Njagi (KPA) stated that the publishers “will continue to put pressure on policy makers to implement measures that will ensure that the general population gets exposure to information and hence empowering people to live better lives.”
The Book Fair brought together various players in the book publishing and marketing industry both from the private and the public sector. The exhibition was attended by children from both primary and high schools and from other sectors that have an interest in education and the publishing industry.
The exhibition has been organized by the Kenya Publishers Association, an organization that brings together players in the publishing industry. The KPA Chairman added that the book industry is growing in strength in both Kenya and the East African region. He added that the Kenyan publishing scene is changing towards achieving a balance between general book and textbook publishing.
Apart from the book exhibitions, other activities that were of interest to the attendees are book launches, children’s activities, budding author’s workshops and clinics. Apart from the local exhibitors, we had a number of exhibitors from other parts of the world like Repro India Limited, Zhejiang Publishing United Group, Manipal Press and the Iran embassy.
The government too was represented by Department of Culture and the Kenya Book Editorial Board. Also exhibiting were public universities like Nairobi, Catholic, Moi University and Kenyatta University Bookshop.
The closing ceremony for the exhibition will be held on Saturday when the winners of the annual Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature will ne awarded. According to the Chairman, this year there was a bumber entry for the awards, which is a “strong indication of a thriving book industry.”
In total, there were 95 exhibitors participating in the Book Fair.
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