In response to our article ‘Book Fair Turns 30‘ we received the following very enlightening history of what was once a huge and exciting event. Whilst visitors who went to the 2013 Book Fair might have had an enjoyable time, reflection on the history of this event reveals it to be a shadow of its former glory. Many thanks to Roger Stringer.
Did you know?
1. Although the ZIBF celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013, this year was only the 26th book fair. There were no fairs in the years 1986, 1988, 1990, 2008 and 2009.
2. The first ZIBF was mainly an exhibition of books, called Book Week Africa, that were brought out from London. People who wanted to buy one of the titles had to get an invoice from a bookseller and go to their bank and apply for the foreign currency and an import licence to enable the bookseller to import a copy for them.
3. After the first three fairs, 1983, 1984 and 1985, the ZIBF was struggling, and the decision was made to hold it every two years rather than annually. It was organized in 1987 and 1989 mainly by the Ministry of Information, held at the Harare International Conference Centre, and most exhibits were just national stands operated by foreign embassies in Zimbabwe.
4. At the end of 1990, following a proposal by the (then) Chairman of the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association, Paul Brickhill, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair Trust was formed. There were sixteen Trustees, all individuals who were associated with different aspects of the book industry – publishers, booksellers, librarians, writers. The Trustees appointed Trish Mbanga as a Director to manage the book fair, and it was held in 1991, again at the Conference Centre.
5. The ZIBF Trust began work to re-brand the book fair, hold it annually again, and establish it on the world book fair calendar. Negotiations were held for the use of Harare Gardens, the first thatched structure was built in 1992 and the book fair was held in the Gardens for the first time in that year.
6. The ZIBF grew exponentially under the Trust and became the most important book and publishing event in sub-Saharan Africa.
1992: 136 exhibitors from 25 nations
1993: 170 exhibitors from 35 nations
1995: 230 exhibitors from 43 nations, 28 in Africa
1997: 270 exhibitors and 300 trade and professional visitors from 53 countries
2000: 317 exhibitors from 31 countries and an overall attendance of 23,729
7. After 2000, the ZIBF began to experience the same decline as the rest of the country, and foreign exhibitors and visitors stopped coming altogether after about 2002. The ZIBF Trust was dissolved in 2005 and replaced by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association. The book fair is now run by the representatives of a number of writers’ bodies and book-related associations.
Roger Stringer
ZIBF Trustee, 1990–2000 (Vice-Chairman, 1998–2000)
Hi just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few
of the pictures aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Exceptional work!
I do agree with all the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They’re really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are very short for novices. Could you please extend them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.
Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
hi!,I really like your writing very much! share we keep up a correspondence extra approximately your post on AOL? I require a specialist on this area to solve my problem. Maybe that is you! Looking ahead to peer you.
Keep functioning ,great job!
Very informative and wonderful bodily structure of subject matter, now that’s user friendly (:.
My developer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on several websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform. I have heard excellent things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hiya very cool blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also?KI’m glad to search out numerous helpful info right here within the submit, we want work out extra strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
You completed certain good points there. I did a search on the subject and found most people will have the same opinion with your blog.
I have been surfing on-line greater than 3 hours as of late, but I never found any interesting article like yours. It is lovely price sufficient for me. Personally, if all site owners and bloggers made good content material as you did, the web might be a lot more helpful than ever before. “No one has the right to destroy another person’s belief by demanding empirical evidence.” by Ann Landers.
I νisited multiple websites hоwever the audio feature for audіo songs current at
tһis web site is actually еxcellent.
Μy websitе … Daniella Greenup
Pingback: hydroxychloroquine ingredients list
I’ll immediately grab your rss feed as I can’t find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Ηi to ｅvery one, the contents present at tһis web site are іn fact awesome
for peοⲣle knowledge, well, keep up the good work fellows.
My homepage: google bokep
Pingback: long term effects of ivermectil
Pingback: trihydrate capsules
Wonderful work! That is the type of info that are supposed to
be shared around the internet. Disgrace on Google
for now not positioning this publish higher! Come on over and consult with
my website . Thank you =) https://tadalafili.com/
Pingback: trihydrate capsules
Pingback: do i need a prescription for ivermectin
I think the admin of this website is really working hard in favor of
his web page, for the reason that here every stuff
is quality based material. http://ciaalis2u.com/
I always spent my half an hour to read this blog’s
articles or reviews all the time along with a mug
of coffee. http://antiibioticsland.com/Augmentin.htm
Pingback: stromectol for sale online
Pingback: buy generic tadalafil