The Sunday Mail
Garikai Mazara
The executive board of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association (ZIBFA) elected Obey Bvute as its executive chairman last Monday, as the association prepares for this year’s edition of Africa’s premier book fair.
Bvute, with over 20 years’ service in the publishing industry, brings with him a wealth of experience on the issues in the publishing and printing industry and is keen to use the many years he has been behind the scenes to take the Book Fair to its rightful place as Africa’s premier book fair.
“It’s not going to be a stroll in the park,” he contends, “but as with any project of such a nature, it should not be an individual effort but collective minds working together.
“First, we have to work together as the conveners of the Book Fair but there are critical stakeholders like the media, which are useful in shaping our mindsets and then the support from the readers themselves. A book fair cannot be successful without support from readers.”
Besides the recent election to be executive chair of the ZIBFA, Bvute was in the recent past elected vice president of the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association, a position he still holds to date.
He is the managing director of Priority Projects Publishing, a company he founded in 2000.
He started his career in the publishing world by joining Munn Publishing and Distribution where he worked for three years, before joining Longman Zimbabwe, working there for five years.
He left Longman Zimbabwe in 2000 to found his Priority Projects Publishing.
Over all these years, he has gained experience in publishing at various levels, experience which covers publishing research, editorial, desktop publishing and graphic reproduction, photo research, advertising and printing.
“Given this background, and especially that we have seen, mostly first-hand, the challenges that have been obtaining in the publishing industry, we are ready to make the forthcoming edition of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair one to remember, one to return the book into the nation’s psyche.
“Given our high literacy levels, number 1 in Africa, it goes without saying that the high levels is because of the book.
“All our aspirations, different and divergent as they might be, stem from the book. We need to re-introduce the reading culture that made us the proud nation that we are today. We would not be here today if it were not for a reading culture. That is the culture that the Book Fair wants to bring back. And we are ready for that challenge,” enthused Bvute.
He said with the help of the recently elected executive, their mandate would be to make sure that the nation gives pride to its products and resources.
“That we have been around for this long, means we all love our country and that we should do all we can to make sure that the name Zimbabwe remains on the international scene. There have been challenges, yes, these could have been political or economic but we know those are phases and we now need to position the Zimbabwe International Book Fair to where it belongs and that mandate is with all of us, all Zimbabweans.
“Some of the challenges that have faced the publishing industry have to do with copyright issues and especially in face of the ever-changing technological environment and this is one of the topics that should seize us during the Indaba at the Book Fair.
“We need to embrace technological changes and the current edition of the Book Fair — and going forward — will be held under that environment, of an ever-changing technological and economic environment, so we need to see how we can address the book in its present format as opposed to the traditional book.”
“We need to take the piracy war to the streets and all corners of the country to concientise society on the dangers of piracy in all its forms and to warn them that it’s a punishable crime by law.
The publishers recently took an initiative to higher a private company, Piracy Prevention in Zimbabwe (PPZ) to work with law enforcement agents and so far they have more than 20 arrests and convictions and the war carries on.
In-fact the encouraging aspect of this is that most of the convicted criminals have suspended jail terms and will go to jail if they repeat. Time for lip service with intellectual property thieves is over.
There have been arguments in previous years that schoolchildren formed the bulk of the Book Fair attendees, a development which Bvute applauds. “If we could have all school children attend the Book Fair, then the better. First and foremost, that is where the critical mass is and second, we need to inculcate a reading culture and there is no better platform to start that than with school children. Catching them young, if you can please.
“Probably the challenge that we now face is how to make reading interesting, how to capture and keep a young mind entertained. The book is facing a vicious war from other forms of entertainment, though basically we should not see a book as a form of entertainment but a source of knowledge and wisdom.
“So the challenge to the publishing, writing, in fact to the book industry is how to keep pace with competition. How do you keep a student deeply engrossed in a science or history book, when internet search sites are available? How do you keep a young mind glued to a book when they have the option of surfing the net, those are some of the challenges that are facing the book industry. Not to mention the issue of piracy and copyright infringement,” added Bvute.
But with his Priority Projects Publishing having won a number of publishing awards, as well as having books in the national school curriculum, this is the experience that Bvute is banking on to help transform the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
“As a publisher, we have had many encounters and these are encounters that we are hoping will help us take the Book Fair forward.
“We are calling on all stakeholders to come on board and make this year’s Book Fair one to remember, to be remembered as the edition that turned around the fortunes of Africa’s premier Book Fair.”
