ZIBF Indaba 2019: Call for abstracts

The dates for the Zimbabwe International Book Fair have been set for 29 July – 2 August 2019. The Indaba Conference will therefore take place on 29 and 30 July 2019.  The theme of the 2019 Indaba Conference is “Footprints of the Book: Milestones & Opportunities”.   The many previous themes of the Indaba looked at the character and the future of the book in its various forms and looked too at important issues that affect the writing, publishing and sale of books like piracy, reading culture, pricing and the digital character of the book of today, etc. These, however, tended largely to bemoan the goings on in the book sector in Zimbabwe and Africa since 1980. We tended to be gloomy. It is the Association’s submission that a theme such as Footprints of the Book: Milestones and Opportunities, would give ZIBF an opportunity to look back and identify what stakeholders think are the milestones achieved so far, celebrate them as well as point out clearly how and where each milestone was achieved and what opportunities are should be exploited to bring back the renaissance. A case in point is to go back and see what caused the boom of the 1980’s (which saw the rise of Dambudzo Marechera, Charles and David Mungoshi, Barbara Nkala, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Yvonne Vera, Virginia Phiri, Chenjerai Hove, Musaemura Zimunya, Shimmer Chinodya etc) and find what facilitated it and how it could be triggered again.

Sub-Themes:

Presenters are encouraged to submit their own innovative topics and abstracts that speak to the theme, “Footprints of the Book: Milestones & Opportunities”.The following sub-themes are meant to guide possible research areas although they may be used as research topics:

1)      Mutation and the Evolution of the Book

• ICT and the Virtual Library – Moving into the Future
• From Print to e-Books

2)      Forwards and Backwards: Reminiscing the Book

• Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation – The Future of Africa
• Triggering the  Renaissance of the writing and publishing of books in Zimbabwe, the Region and in Africa
• Evaluating the economic contributions and impact of the bookselling sector

3)      Motivating Content Generation in the Digital Age

• Pros and cons of e-publishing
• Social media and e-publishing

4)      Creating Synergies in the Book Industry

• The Nexus Between Books and People
• Evaluating the Book Industry’s focus on Climate , Science, Medicine, Environment etc

5)      The Political Economy of the Book in Africa

• Role of Libraries in the Transformation of African Societies
• The Role of the Book in Achieving the SDGs, Women and Children’s issues
• Intellectual Property, Copyright and Piracy Issues

We therefore urge and encourage contributors to the 2019 Indaba to come up with ideas that will benefit all participants in the book value chain.  

Submission of abstracts

Abstracts of not more than 500 words and word-processed in Times New Roman script with 1.15 line spacing should be submitted by 15 April 2019 by email toevents@zibfa.org.zw with a copy to zibfa@yahoo.com. The abstracts will be reviewed by experts and authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 30 April 2019.  Presenters should submit the full papers and PowerPoint presentations of the full paper by 31 May 2019. Power-point presentations are required and must summarise the full paper in bullet form and should enable presenters to speak to the paper within the allotted time.  However, those that must read the paper should summarise it and present within the allotted time.