Kenya Literature Bureau
{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Kenya Literature Bureau
| logo =
| former_name = East African Literature Bureau
| type = State owned corporation
| industry = Publishing house
| fate =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| founded = {{Start date and age|1947}}
| founder = British High Commission
| defunct =
| hq_location_city = Nairobi
| hq_location_country = Kenya
| area_served =
| key_people =
| products =
| owner =
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| parent =
| website = {{URL|kenyaliteraturebureau.com}}
}}
The Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) is a publishing house and state corporation in Kenya founded in 1947. It is located in South-C off Popo Road in Nairobi.
History
The Kenya Literature Bureau was initially established by the "East Africa governments (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda)"Henry Chakava, [https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004283534/B9789004283534_005.xml "Private enterprise publishing in Kenya: A long struggle for emancipation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510131105/https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004283534/B9789004283534_005.xml |date=10 May 2022 }}, in: The Cottage by the Highway and Other Essays on Publishing: 25 Years of Logos, Brill, 2015, p. 32. Retrieved 10 May 2022 in 1947 as the East African Literature Bureau as an "offshoot" of the missionary-owned Ndia Kuu Press in order to publish books for the general public in Kiswahili, East African vernacular languages and English.Stanley Gazemba, [https://www.theelephant.info/culture/2019/12/13/african-publishing-minefields-and-the-woes-of-the-african-writer/ African Publishing Minefields and the Woes of the African Writer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211031818/https://www.theelephant.info/culture/2019/12/13/african-publishing-minefields-and-the-woes-of-the-african-writer/ |date=11 February 2020 }}, theelephant.info. Retrieved 10 May 2022.{{cite book|title=Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0x1SHxxWwrAC&pg=PA809-IA1|accessdate=18 November 2012|volume=LII|year=1980|publisher=Republic of Kenya|pages=811–14|chapter=The Kenya Literature Bureau Bill, 13th May 1980}} The Bureau's first director was Charles Granston Richards, who held that post for fifteen years.Keith Smith and Charles Richards, [https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/abpr.1976.2.3.161/pdf "Interview"], The African Book Publishing Record, print: Volume 2 Issue 3, Walter de Gruyter, 1976; online: De Gruyter Saur, November 12, 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2010.[https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/f7c79792-b5f2-3147-8327-ad31c98f2b65 Papers of Charles Granston Richards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328091300/https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/f7c79792-b5f2-3147-8327-ad31c98f2b65 |date=28 March 2020 }}, archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
The regional status continued after independence with the establishment of the East African Community (EAC). In the early 1970s the Bureau published many pioneering anthologies of English-language poetry from East Africa:
{{quote|It is significant of East African writers' indifference to political boundaries that such anthologies were all compiled, without a single exception, on an inter-territorial basis, with Kenya and Uganda supplying the greater part of the material. They [were] often multiracial as well, incorporating contributions by European and Asian writers.{{cite book|author=Albert S. Gérard|author-link=Albert S. Gérard|title=European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6PrqVKaZtgC&pg=PA913|accessdate=18 November 2012|year=1986|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-963-05-3834-3|page=913}}}} However, in 1977, the EAC collapsed and the reins of the bureau were transferred to the Kenyan Ministry of Education thereby making it a department under that ministry. In 1980, the KLB Act was passed by the Kenyan Parliament making it a state corporation—a status it holds to this day.
Book series
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Shiraz Durrani, Never Be Silent: Publishing and Imperialism 1884-1963, Nairobi: Vita Books, 2006.
External links
- [http://www.kenyaliteraturebureau.com/ Kenya Literature Bureau] - official website
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Category:Book publishing companies of Kenya
Category:Government-owned companies of Kenya
Category:East African Community
Category:Publishing companies established in 1947
Category:1947 establishments in Kenya
{{Kenya-stub}}