CS Machogu to be chief guest at international book fair in Nairobi

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu is set to be the Chief Guest during this year's 24th Nairobi International Book Fair event set for the Sarit Centre, Westlands from September 27 to October 1. 

The Book Fair event organised by the Kenya Publishers Association, will be open to the public daily from 9 am to 6 pm. 

During the opening ceremony, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale will be the special guest. 

The event's chairperson Mary Maina who doubles up as the CEO of Moran Publishers said: "We have 120 stands fully taken, an improvement of 10 from last year's event."

"Some of the foreign exhibitors coming to the NIBF include China, India, Iran, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania. This is big considering that last year we had only one foreign exhibitor."

During the book fair, book lovers will get an opportunity to interact with their favorite authors who will also autograph copies of their books. 

Among the authors gracing this year's event is John Kiriamiti whose best-selling book is My Life in Crime. 

For the first time in the history of NIBF, KPA has teamed up with eKitabu and the African Publishers Network to host a full-fledged pavilion dedicated to buying and selling rights. 

While trading in book rights has been a factor in previous fairs, they have largely been informal affairs. 

The Rights Café is a pavilion where local and foreign publishers will be trading in Intellectual Property Rights. Specially appointed NIBF ambassadors drawn from different countries in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, will be at hand to negotiate publishers and authors for the sale of their rights.

KPA Chairman Kiarie Kamau explained that the business line of buying and selling Rights has been largely unexplored in the African market.

"There are tremendous opportunities that accrue from engaging in this line of business," Kamau, who is also the CEO of East African Educational Publishers said.

"Publishers who have invested in works of a general nature: creative works and biographies among others should seize the opportunity presented by the NIBF to trade with regional and international publishers in the arena of Rights."