Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: A New Rights Fair for Nairobi

This first year has laid the foundation to open networks across the continent and internationally. By creating a serious rights fair on the continent, the NIBF hopes to lay a pathway for African writers to be published in other African countries and globally.

Along with the African Publishers Network (APNET) and the Kenya Publishers Association, "we want to grow to scale and sustain this initiative for 2024 and beyond," says Mercy Kirui, senior manager, content at eKitabu. "We hope to build a community of people who will engage with us throughout the year to make this bigger and better."

Participants characterized the rights fair as a success, regardless of how many deals result from the meetings. "Rights fairs always occur outside the continent," says Goretti Kyomuhendo, publisher at Africa Writers Trust Ltd in Uganda. "Because African publishers experience major hurdles-both financial and visa-related-to attend rights fairs in Europe or North America, other rights fairs always seem exclusionary to us."