Duo wins inaugural lifetime award

Kenyan publisher Henry Chakava and Zimbabwean author and editor Chiedza Musengezi have been honoured with the inaugural ZIBF Award for Life-Long Contribution to the African Book Industry. They won US$2 500 each.

The Zimbabwe International Book Fair decided to honour individuals, publishing houses, companies or organisations that have made a significant contribution to promote the African book industry after noting that writers were taking all the credit for the development of African literature.

Chakava, chairman of Kenyan publishing company, East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) and East African Book Distributors, began his publishing career in 1972 as an apprentice editor at Heinemann Educational Books in Kenya. EAEP's catalogue boasts of titles by some of African's leading authors including Ngugi wa Th'ongo, Francis Imbuga and Taban lo Liyong.

From editor, Chakava rose through the ranks holding various positions including being publishing manager and managing director at Heinemann before he left to join EAEP in a similar capacity.

An author in his own right, Chakava has written several books and articles on literary criticism and on the African book industry. He has also given presentations and lectures at various international conferences and institutes. In 1984 Chakava was decorated by Kenya's head of state for outstanding service to Kenya.

Musengezi is director of Zimbabwe Women Writers, an association of female authors formed in 1990 to promote the writing and publishing of literary works by women writers. She started her career as a teacher before joining Hillside Teachers' Training College in Bulawayo as a lecturer in literature and classroom communication skills.

She left the job to join Baobab Books as editorial manager responsible children's and young adults' literature and school textbooks. At Baobab she facilitated collaboration between Baobab and Cambridge University Press which saw Baobab publishing a series Shona and Ndebele translations of children's books originally published by the UK publishing house.

She has edited and co-edited several fiction and non-fiction anthologies including the award-winning Tragedy of Lives, a collection of narratives based on interviews with female prison inmates in Zimbabwe; Masimba, a ground-breaking anthology of women's fiction in Shona and Women of Resilience, a collection of the narratives of women who took part in the Zimbabwean liberation war.