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Correspondent
Organisers of the annual Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) are on edge. On edge, because at the time of setting dates for the book fair this year, and issuing out a call for papers, no one anticipated there would be the global pandemic, the coronavirus Infectious Disease-19 (Covid).
During the last week of March, organisers of the book fair announced the event would run from July 27 to August 1.
The same announcement identified the theme as ‘‘Book Industry: The Dynamics Within’’.
The theme for the 2019 Book Fair Indaba was ‘‘Footprints of the Book: Milestones and Opportunities’.’
In the wake of the announcement, Zimbabwe reported its first case of a person who tested positive for Covid-19.
Soon after, came confirmation of its first recorded coronavirus death.
Since then, the official death toll has risen to three, while tests show 14 other people have so far tested positive for the virus.
But it is the magnitude of the picture of the pandemic, globally, that has the book fair organisers on edge; the death toll particularly in the US and Latin America paints a frightening picture.
The nearest scale of human loss that Africa has so far seen are outbreaks of the Ebola virus in Guinea (Conakry), Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where body bags and mass burials became a common sight.
That is the magnitude of the current pandemic in the US and in countries in South America.
Understandably, the organisers are concerned.
‘‘We have just started to talk about that at the board level,’’ explains Memory Chirere, chair of the Executive Board of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association.
‘‘Our event is indeed in jeopardy.’’
The concern is that by the time the book fair is expected to kick-off, many of the people expected could still be wary about conferencing.
But under the circumstances, could the book fair confine itself to “Book Industry: The Dynamics Within” without referencing the impact and implications the global pandemic has on the book, publishing, marketing and the purchasing public?
But hope springs eternal, and in this case one would do well to recall former US President Barack Obama and ‘‘The Audacity of Hope’’ or medical doctor-cum-writer, Valerie Tagwira’s ‘‘The Uncertainty of Hope’’.
Both books address issues of hope out of situations of hopelessness.
The absence of the physical presence of external participants might affect the numbers, but if by that time the pandemic has been overcome both globally and at home, it would be possible to conduct a Book Fair Indaba via teleconferencing from remote sites across continents, while locally best practices would still render the possibility of the show going on.
The book fair organisers are hoping that by the time we get to August this year, Covid-19 would have been overcome.
Chirere says, as things stand, the Book Fair Indaba Conference will still take place on July 27 and 28, with the rest of the programme running until August 1, 2020.
‘‘Having observed that most of the themes from 2011 to 2016 addressed developmental and philosophical issues, the board decided to select a theme that may give us a rare opportunity to look more closely at the internal welfare and goings on of real people and institutions — big and small — in the book industry itself in Zimbabwe and Africa,’’ explains Chirere.
What the organisers want, for example, is to dwell on the work relations between writers and publishers, printers, booksellers, librarians and readers.
Chirere believes that a very introspective gaze at both the open and behind-the-scenes of the book sector may be exciting and enriching.
‘‘The book industry in Zimbabwe and Africa is currently in a state that demands that we evaluate the perspectives of every stakeholder against those of others, in order to create harmony and cohesion,’’ he adds.
His observation is that they have noticed the book production chain in its various formats seems not to be united in addressing the opportunities and challenges they face in daily relations and interactions as creators and businesspeople.
‘‘A positively open and candid discussion forum,’’ Chirere suggests, ‘‘may possibly allow all stakeholders to get a 360-degree view of the situation, understand and empathise with other groups’ positions, ultimately leading to viable solutions in taking the industry into the future.’’
The broad talking points for the 2020 Book Fair Indaba could evolve around the following:
Why is there a general malaise and impoverishment among writers in Zimbabwe and Africa, despite their sweat and well-known good record?
What percentage of total income is made up of royalties from book sales by authors worldwide?
What reading material is the market — that is schools, colleges, universities and individuals — prepared to pay for and why.
How do libraries and booksellers survive with low budgets, low volumes and weak literary output?
How to locate the efforts of the publisher in the general matrix.
Is piracy indeed all gloom and doom?
Where are the opportunities and threats; and where does science and technology fit in making publishers and booksellers accountable?
Online Reporter