Dear Friends,
The literary landscape is undergoing transformation. This year, literary event and book fair organizers in Nairobi—with more than major 6 fairs and festivals in 2025—created unique and impressive experiences.
NYrobi Book Fest hosted by Alliance Française, Nairobi LitFest by Book Bunk, Nairobi Soma Festival at McMillan Library, the African Book Fair by Soma Nami at KNLS, and others connected authors, book lovers, artists, booksellers, editors, storytellers, publishers; several also highlighted the vital role libraries play. At Macondo Literary Festival in September at the Kenya National Theatre, East Africa’s Godfrey “GADO” Mwampembwa and South Africa’s Jonathan “Zapiro” Shapiro, both fearless and seasoned cartoonists, spoke boldly about how humour, graphic novels, and editorial cartoons play an essential role in society breaking through political censorship. Macondo’s annual “Kenya Writes” session on Sunday morning audience Q&A was lively. Responses to an audience question: “AI—tool or trap?” reflected ambivalence, some curiosity, and certain awareness that successive sea changes—the internet, the rise of social media, AI—have changed writing for all of us.
This September's Nairobi International Book Fair was a milestone for eKitabu in more ways than one. There we inaugurated the Prix de l’édition jeunesse Africaine—an award to recognize excellence in French children’s books across Africa. In this effort, we collaborated with Alliance Française, teachers of French in Kenya, and Mme Agnès Debiage, a great-hearted professional, founder of the Forum des éditeurs jeunesse d’afrique (FEJA), and a bookseller in Cairo for 23 years. The initiative underscored our commitment to bridging language barriers. We were honoured to be joined by creative, committed leaders in African publishing: Anja Tahirimihamina Ravakiniony, founder of Éditions Karné, Madagascar; Ulrich Talla Wamba, director of Éditions Akoma Mba, Cameroun; and Arafo Saleh of Éditions du Francolin and founder of le Librairie Victor Hugo, Djibouti.
This September also carried us well beyond the 100,000th essay mark in the thirteen years so far of the Digital Essay Competition (DEC). Data and research were central to this year’s DEC. This year’s question: “What is your favourite book and why?” gleaned valuable insights into the reading habits of more than 15,000 young adults and children in public and private schools, grade 5 to form 4. Libraries emerged as the primary source for books, with the most mentioned titles being curriculum-approved. A relatively new publisher, Access Publishers featured prominently among readers’ favorite books. For more on the research findings, click here.
Finally, please join me in celebrating the Studio KSL team. Over the past 7 years, Studio KSL has dedicated skills and passion to creating great, accessible, and inclusive stories in sign language. Studio KSL’s Digital StoryTime video storybooks—more than 350 books in 6 different sign languages of Africa up to now—have reached over 12 million viewers in Kenya on Akili Kids Network and YouTube. This week, Studio KSL at eKitabu won the Frankfurt Book Fair Digital Publishing Award. Hongera sana Studio KSL director Georgine Auma and the team in Kenya, Rwanda, and Malawi!
Warmest regards,
Will