Bulawayo Book Fair, March 1999
Trish Mbanga
Trish Mbanga is Director of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, PO Box CY 1179, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Tel +263 4 702104/108, fax +263 4 702129; e-mail: zibf@mango.zw
In preparation for the Zimbabwe International
Book Fair (ZIBF), the theme of this year's Bulawayo Book Fair was 'women'.
This probably contributed to the large turnout - 6,440 people visited
the fair, from Harare, Binga and other districts of Matabeleland, which
was well above last year's figure of 5,000. The Book Purchase Scheme
draw was also a crowd puller and resulted in at least $20,000 being
spent by the ten libraries which each won book vouchers of $2,000.
The programme of events included a number of
workshops. The Writers Workshop, organised by ZIBF, was opened by
poet, writer, publisher and politician Cain Mathema. There was a resounding
response to the Skills Sharing Workshop, also organised by the ZIBF
for everyone with a flair for writing - 106 people turned up as opposed
to the expected 60, and the Bulawayo Book Fair organisers plan to
make this workshop an annual event as a means of identifying and developing
untapped talent.
Workshops on gender issues included a Women
Writers Workshop, organised by the Zimbabwe Women Writers Association,
as well as the Women's Experiences with AIDS Workshop which the Association
organised in conjunction with the Matabeleland AIDS Council. There
were workshops on the Implications of Poverty on Women and Women and
their Health. The Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association addressed the
issue of Women and the Constitution, and the Zimbabwe Women's Resource
Centre Network looked at the topic of Gender and Development.
The Zimbabwe Book Development Council once again
ran the Children's Reading Tent where a series of seminars to commemorate
the National Book Week was held. [end] [BPN, no 25, 1999, p 7]
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