Tell Your Story with Debonair Bookstores

Debonair Bookstore, the first online bookstore in Africa’s most populous country – Nigeria, is pleased to announce that on 1st October 2012 our eBookstore will launch to the general public. This is a call to all publishers and writers. In addition to allowing people download ebooks unto their existing devices, our eBookstore, called the Bamboo Store, will also allow downloads on our Bamboo e-readers and Bamboo tablets.

Self published authors have the opportunity to put up their ebooks on the Bamboo store platform before the launch date at no cost, meaning you can publish and sell your book without the upfront cost associated with print publishing.

The Bamboo store is the gateway to the African market of 450 million upwardly mobile Africans with payment platforms designed for the African market as well as conventional credit card options. With the launch of the Bamboo Store, authors get:

• High royalty percentage. Publishing is free and you can earn up to 70% royalty in perpetuity while having the ability to set your own price.
• Quick publishing. Publishing takes less than five minutes and your book usually appears on the Bamboo store within a day.
• Easy. A final manuscript and a Debonair account are all that you need to publish your book on our Bamboo Store.
• Sell globally. Our platform accepts payment from popular African payment merchants and all the major credit cards.
• Get paid monthly in US dollars or in Nigerian naira.

If you’d like to put your book on the Bamboo store before the launch date, please send an email to editor@debonairbookstore.com. For more information visit Debonair Blog.

Osofisan's "Midnight Blackout" at Terrakulture

Midnight Blackout is a hilarious comedy play written by Professor Femi Osofisan. Osofisan was at the Garden City Literary Festival in 2011.  Midnight Blackout is produced by Performing Arts Workshop and Studio (PAWS) and directed by Kenneth Uphopho.

Date: Every Sunday in June - 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, 2012

Time: 3:00pm & 6:00pm

Venue: Terra Kulture, 1376, Tiamuyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos

Tickets: N2,500

Koko Kalango: For the Love of Books

On Sunday, June 3rd, 2012, ThisDay Newspapers published a piece (on pages 78 and 79) titled "For the Love of Books", which focused on Rainbow Book Club's book reading on May 28 to encourage reading among children. The Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, read to public primary school children  in the Enuoha Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The article was also about Koko Kalango's work with the Garden City Literary Festival and the Rainbow Book Club. Below are excerpts.

On the Origin of the Name "Rainbow Book Club"

"Over time, the sign  of the rainbow has been used by different people to designate different concepts. But it has its origin in the Bible. The rainbow was given by God as a sign of promise. All the work that I do comes under the name as a reminder that I am ultimately accountable to God."

On RBC's Significance

"The book club's visit to schools, has, meanwhile, begun to yield results. A boy in one of the schools was once moved to tell a story of how reading had changed his life. A flurry of emails also came from university undergraduates, who were in secondary school when they attended the reading programmes. Keeping in touch with RBC was their way of saying "Thank You."

RBC's Ultimate Goal

"The book club's ultimate goal is to change the society through changing the mindset of its citizens. And this is possible through the love of reading. We also hope, as a long-term goal, to change the entire continent."

The festival is scheduled to hold between October 15-20, 2012. Keep those days open. 

The African Writers Series is Seeking Manuscripts

The African Writers Series is a wide-ranging series offering stories, poetry, biographical writings and essays from across Africa. It includes work from nearly 40 writers from 19 different countries, including classic titles from renowned African authors such as Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Go here if you would like to submit your work to the series.

Chinua Achebe in Discussion with K. Anthony Appiah

The Voice Interviews: Deborah Ahenkorah

What are your fondest memories of growing up?

We had a light yellow wooden table in our verandah at home and I would wrap my mother’s wax cloth around the table to create what I called, my secret cave. From this cave I would delve into books and read and read and read, travelling many different worlds, living many exciting adventures!

Why the interest in encouraging reading?

I had such a brilliant time with books as a child and I think everyone should have that opportunity too. Also, it is fairly inarguable that reading encourages one to develop curiosity, an understanding of the world and intellectual capacity. These are all solid reasons why reading should be encouraged, especially among young people.

When and why did you start the Golden BAOBAB Prize?

I started the Golden Baobab Prize in my second year of university. Before this I had started a previous organization, Project Educate in Africa, which sent funds and donated books from the United States to different African countries. While this organization’s work was good and necessary to promoting literacy in Africa, I didn’t think it was the solution. If there are no books in Africa, it is because people in Africa are not writing and creating books. So I created the Golden Baobab Prize. It is an annual African literary award that discovers, nurtures and celebrates promising writer of African children’s literature. We connect these writers with leading publishers and partner to ensure that winning African children’s books enter the marketplace.

Why focus on children's stories?

 Children’s stories because it’s a sector that’s largely ignored. Even regions of the world that produce thousands of children’s titles a year have children’s prizes that are ensuring quality production. Africa is not producing enough children’s stories, and before the Golden Baobab Prize, there was no annual continental prize addressing the issue.

Why is reading important?

A people have a reading culture when they have inculcated the habit of seeking out knowledge from wide varieties of books. This reading culture naturally translates into a reasoning culture, an intellectually questioning culture and a culture that is informed about their immediate and far off surroundings. So for instance if people read only novels or only read newspapers or only read the Koran, that is not a reading culture. Now I find that reading in Africa is determined by your purchasing power. Since there are not that many free libraries if your parents cannot afford to buy you books, or you yourself are hustling too much to give a hoot about a book, where is the reading culture? I think that as the middle and upper class in Africa grow, there will be more of a true reading culture.

How do you encourage people to read?

I think people read the things that speak to them. Same with music and movies, you’re drawn to the things you can relate to. So I believe that providing wonderfully written, beautifully illustrated stories that reflect African experiences is one way to getting more young people reading.

What feedback have you received about the project that brought a smile to your face?

We were recently named, by Echoing Green, a leading international social sector investor, as one of the boldest social innovations of our times, addressing some of societies most critical issues. A great honor! We were part of 22 people selected from close to 3,000 applicants from all over the world. It’ll be a very long time before I stop smiling about this!

What advice do you have for anyone thinking of going into publishing as a career?


As we say in Ghana, Chale! Now is really not the time to enter publishing. The industry is in upheaval all over the world as it morphs with technology and nobody knows what it’s going to look like in the next 3 years even. But then again, Africa is a couple of years behind this upheaval so people may want to get in on Africa and once the international industry figures itself out, they can quickly take the new model and apply to African situations. What’s important to contemplate though is that publishing in Africa requires good African writers. So while you wait for the industry to settle down, my best, unbiased advice is to invest in the Golden Baobab Prize and help us discover the new African literary giants for the exciting times up ahead!

Unoma Azuah: On Writing EDIBLE BONES

The story of Edible Bones focuses on the protagonist by the name Kaitochukwu. As a security guard for the American Embassy in Lagos, Kaitochukwu daily contains the rushing hundreds of eager Nigerian visa applicants who, before dawn, line up pressed against locked wire fences outside the embassy entrance. When 8 a.m. arrives, the embassy opens. Each day, only about one third of the men and women get their turn at the service desk as the day progresses. Most of them are told that their request for a travel visa has been denied. Kaitochukwu, however, gets the long anticipated news that is opposite of that received by his fellow hopefuls. His six-month old request for a visa to travel to the US has been approved.

Kaitochukwu departs for Cleveland, Ohio, excited to fulfill the American dream of his media-driven imagination where every house is a castle, and every American life is complete with luxurious cars, designer clothes, and widescreen TVs. What he, instead, encounters is a path beset by unstable relationships with women, violent crime, and job loss. Edible Bones follows Kaitochukwu’s journey as an undocumented African immigrant in an unwelcoming American urban square, chronicling the distance between his grand expectations and his ensuing formidable fate. The need for a speedy decision becomes the one tough battle Kaito has to face when he finally visits how home country, Nigeria.

Edible Bones is inspired by the numerous immigrant stories I’ve heard and witnessed. Also being an immigrant myself prompted me to write the book. I also wanted to tell a story that I feel has not been told enough. The story of how America is not always the land of milk and honey for everybody. You have to earn that “milk” and that “honey”; you don’t just waltz into the country and stumble upon success. Some Americans “burst” their butts everyday, working to make ends meet, yet some of them don’t get it, talk more of an immigrant who, first of all, is unaware and then is illegal. So it gets complicated in almost every angle. And I don’t entirely blame Kaito for his mistakes. When you don’t know any better, you tend to fumble around a lot before you get your bearing. Some people learn faster than others and adjust accordingly, others never really learn.

Author's photo courtesy of Wordsbody

The processes I employed involved research and observation. I conducted a number of interviews in order to have an idea of how to craft the prison parts of the story for instance. I also conducted interviews to have an idea of how some Nigerian immigrants reacted to the issue of homosexuality. For example, it was important to find out if their views on the issue changed because of the changed environment. The result of the interviews is surprising and one would need to find out from the novel.

The other process that was part of writing the novel was the need for me to take a long break, three months or four months in a year, to be alone and not be distracted. It was a successful attempt even though I found myself constantly explaining why I had to turn down that lunch or dinner invitation. The sacrifices required to see Edible Bones come to life were well worth it.

I decided to publish Edible Bones in Nigeria first because the primary audience of the novel is the Nigerian public. There is also a conscious effort on my part to practice the saying that “charity begins at home.” This may not necessarily apply to all my subsequent novels, but for this particular one, delivering it first to my people is as urgent as the message the novel bears.

—Unoma Azuah

The Edible Bones Review Contest: To participate, buy a copy of the book, read it, and then write a review of no more that 500 words. You stand a chance of winning the following cash prizes: First Prize: 15, 000 naira; Second Prize: 10, 000 naira; Third Prize: 5, 000 naira. More information here.