“There’s no one who can’t become a reader”

Mkuki Bgoya runs one of the few publishing houses in Tanzania. His goal is to establish a culture of reading in his native country.

When it comes to the book market, Tanzania is anything but simple, something Mkuki Bgoya readily admits. The publisher from the East African country travelled to Frankfurt as a participant in the book fair’s Invitation Programme. In this interview, he describes an industry in transition. “In the past, we had a robust sector, one that printed mainly school textbooks,” he says. 

The government’s decision some 15 years ago that all students in the same year of school would use the same government-published textbook still shapes the sector today. “The attempt to improve the country’s education system has had a lasting impact on its publishing industry,” Bgoya says. “Almost all the publishers who relied on this market no longer have any business.” Some 50 publishing houses are still registered in Tanzania, but “only three to five really publish books on a regular basis.”

One of them is Mkuki na Nyota (Spear and Star), the publishing house founded by Bgoya’s father Walter in 1981. “In the first decade and a half, we concentrated on textbooks, but fortunately we then began to develop a sizeable backlist,” Bgoya explains. Today, he publishes novels and biographies, children’s literature and art books.

Bgoya believes that change is possible

His publishing house brings out 30 to 40 new titles each year, 60 percent of them in English and 40 percent in Kiswahili. Translations between the two languages are also part of the programme. His customers mostly live in Tanzania and other African countries, although a partnership with the African Books Collective allows his publishing house to reach readers in Europe and the United States as well. The more costly art books, on the other hand, are popular as coffee table books among tourists visiting Tanzania.

According to Bgoya, the fact that people in Tanzania prefer non-fiction to fiction is due to the country’s lack of a reading culture. Many people read books as assignments in school but not in their free time or as members of a book club. “The idea of buying a novel and reading it for pleasure is not well established,” he says. “A bestseller in Tanzania would be a title that sells 1,000 to 2,000 copies.” All the same, he believes change is possible. Which is another reason why his publishing house has expanded its programme by adding audiobooks. “There’s no one who can’t become a reader,” he says. “We believe people can turn into readers at any age.”

This is also the path the publishing house is taking with its literary programme for children. In 2021, Mkuki na Nyota was recognised at the Children’s Book Fair in Bologna as Africa’s best publisher of children’s books. “We were already respected in the industry before that, but the award has put us in the spotlight,” explains Bgoya, whose company is also bringing out a New Adult series. “It’s not yet a major market in Tanzania,” he says. Among English-speakers, the publishing house competes with imported titles from international publishers. “The same books that do well in Europe and America are also read here,” Bgoya says. But it’s a challenge to be successful with works by local authors, he adds.

At the book fair in Frankfurt, Bgoya is represented in Hall 4.1 B 85 along with other participants in the Invitation Programme. “I’m looking forward to exchanging ideas with others and discovering international trends,” he says. “I also want to meet with publishers who are hard to reach from Dar es Salaam.” The coastal city on the Indian Ocean is where his publishing house is based. Born in 1981, Bgoya returned home to join his father’s company in 2009 after studying graphic design in the US and working in various advertising agencies. “I always knew I would come back sooner or later,” he says. At first he was a product manager responsible for production, printing and design. When his father retired two years ago, Bgoya took on the position of managing director.

The small family business has now grown into a publishing house with 15 employees. His father, who once translated Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince into Kiswahili, continues to support the team. “I don’t think he’ll ever really retire,” Bgoya says with a laugh.

Interview by journalist Nicole Nadine Seliger; it was first published on 16 October 2024 in German in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Verleger Mkuki Bgoya aus Tansania: „Niemand ist als Leser verloren“(opens in a new window) 

The Invitation Programme enables publishers from developing book nations to take part in the world's largest industry gathering in Frankfurt. It is organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. More information: https://www.buchmesse.de/en/fellowship-and-grant-programmes/frankfurt-invitation-programmes(opens in a new window)