• The ‘free for all' sale offers books with discounts of up to 80 per cent of the recommended retail price.
• Books on display range from bestselling novels, science fiction, romance, literature, graphic novels, business, self-help books and cookbooks.
Big Bad Wolf Books has launched its world’s biggest book sale at the Sarit Centre Expo, Nairobi.
The ‘free for all' sale offers books with discounts of up to 80 per cent of the recommended retail price.
"Books are expensive and I urge Kenyans to take up the opportunity of this book sale to stock as many books as they can,” Director General in the Ministry of Education Eliyas Abdi said.
The sale organised by Big Bad Wolf Sharjah is the largest in Kenya’s history and the first of its kind in the country.
The country-to-country sale tour takes place annually and aims at creating a love for reading by making books affordable and accessible.
Readers and book enthusiasts can browse through more than 500,000 books with 15,000 titles to choose from.
Books on display range from bestselling novels, science fiction, romance, literature, graphic novels, business, self-help books and cookbooks.
The sale also has the biggest collection of children’s books that include pictures, activities, colouring and interactive books.
The expo which was launched last week on Friday, will run through to October 23, 2022.
The launch was officiated by Abdi and Big Bad Wolf Books Founder, Andrew Yap.
Speaking during the launch, Abdi commended Yap and Big Bad Wolf CEO Mohamed Hersi for their resolve to inculcate a reading culture in the continent by making books affordable and easily accessible.
He also said that books come with a lot of knowledge which can bring change in our country.
"Knowledge is not perishable, so the books, once bought, can be passed and shared with generations to come,” he said.
Yap said that they have already conducted their annual sale in Tanzania, where the tour kick-started in Africa.
Through the ongoing book sale, Big Bad Wolf hopes that they will be able to make an 80 per cent sales in the country and positively impact the larger community of readers and non-readers.
"Coming to Kenya, we met with booksellers and we found out that the bookstores here majorly sell curriculum books,” Yap said.
"They told us they want to sell other books but the tax is really high. Tax and VAT for books in Kenya are currently at 21.5 per cent from what we gathered,” he said.
Through their reading advocacy effort, Yap and his team want to help the government do away with the taxation of books to make them more accessible by everyone.
Hersi said that the variety of books on sale are relevant to people from all walks of life.
This includes children and working professionals who would like to gain more knowledge and up their skill in areas of their expertise.
"What we are doing here has never been done in this part of the world. We are mission-oriented to ensure that books are available to millions around the world at affordable prices, even to low-income households,” Hersi said.
"I strongly believe that books should not be treated as a privilege but a necessity needed to prepare the next generation of workers and leaders.”
To attract more book enthusiasts, the organisers have included a prize contest dubbed ‘Book Haul Contest.’
Participants are required to share a photo or video of their book purchases on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #BBWBookHaulKE.
Ten lucky participants are then selected daily and awarded Big Bad Wolf vouchers worth Sh3000.
One lucky winner stands a chance to win the grand prize, a trolley full of books.