It’s time to rebrand the book fair: Chirere Memory Chirere
Memory Chirere

Memory Chirere

What prospects are there for the revival of the book industry struggling against a bleak global economic environment and the advent of technology threatening to vanquish the printing and publishing industry? Is it a surprise that the Zimbabwe International Book Fair has come and gone with a large section of the populace seemingly oblivious of its existence? Prominent author Memory Chirere (MC) speaks to Herald Senior Reporter Lovemore Ranga Mataire (LRM)about the challenges facing the book sector and the role being played by ZIBF.

LRM: What are your general sentiments on the just-ended ZIBF?

MC: I think the book fair has managed to defend the idea that there is still enthusiasm for a book in the hearts of most of us. We were harmed by the economy but on our own we need to revamp our planning and programming procedures where we remain utterly primitive.

LRM: As an author how useful has been this year’s ZIBF?

MC: We need to go back to the drawing board and do serious trimming down to bare essentials. There is even need to downsize again to the level of the very first and second fairs and start to grow again. A smaller and co-ordinated fair is still within our reach.

LRM: How fortunes of the fair started to decline in 1995 when President Mugabe expressed disgust at the presence of homosexuals?

MC: I don’t think things went down that very year. I don’t think the current state of our fair is to do with the gay issue at all. The funders didn’t leave in 1995.

LRM: Yes, they didn’t leave in 1995 but isn’t that the year they started the disengagement process leading to 2006 when they eventually left? So what is at the core of the current lukewarm reception by the public?

MC: It is multi-pronged, it is lack of funding. It is due to the economic challenges in the country and to the challenging global trends which hamper funding in general. But even if we were to have floods of money today, we may still not have a good fair. Our fair needs rebranding depending on our needs and cloth. We need to invest too in event management and that’s why I say that for now we are only defending the relevance of the book fair.

The gay thing was not a matter that brought the real challenges to our fair. Even if the gay issue had not happened the fair would be where it is today.

LRM: So it’s not about the organisers but the general economic situation?

MC: It’s both, the fair grew and got caught up in local and global dynamics. The book sector has changed dramatically the world over.

The fairs of the 1980s are no more. I thank God that we still have a book fair where other countries do not have. I am certain that one day we will rebrand it. For now I think that we should hold forte and not bicker and quarrel among ourselves.

LRM: Lastly, what can be done to revive the book industry and promote a reading culture in Zimbabwe?

MC: What is needed is to fix the economy. It is not possible to have a good book industry sector with a struggling economy. When people have money for food and clothes, they will be able to move on to books. At the moment we must make the production of books cheap and affordable so that people do not resort to photocopying.

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