Zimbabwe International Book Fair Call for Abstracts

On behalf of the Executive Board of The Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association, I wish to advise that the approved Theme for 2017 is – "Making the Book Pay!". We are, therefore, pleased to announce that the dates for The Zimbabwe International Book Fair have been set for 31 July - 5 August 2017 while The Indaba Conference is slated for 31 July and 1 August.

This Theme was selected from several possibilities that were recommended by participants through the 2016 Indaba Evaluation Forms. The ZIBFA Executive leadership concurred with the suggested theme, "Making the Book Pay" as it is topical and adequately speaks to today's national, regional and international development agendas listed below:

·  Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset):
.  Towards an Empowered Society and a Growing Economy;
·  Africa Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want; and
·  The UN 2030 SDGs: Transforming Our World.

The 'PAY' in wealth creation connotes eradication of poverty through reading. It also enables the following:

·  Inculcating the reading habit and sustaining reading skill in young people, hence it PAYS to Read so that we maintain high literacy levels;
·  Reading enables people to realize their aspirations and successes through education and to advance themselves;
·  Increasing food security and nutrition;
·  Eradicating diseases i.e. HIV and Aids and other communicable diseases;
·  Improving child immortality;
·  Increasing revenue inflows for the Book Industry players thereby creating or generating wealth from, author/publisher/bookseller perspective;
·  Alleviating poverty;
·  Contributing towards employment creation;
·  Providing equitable access to information for all; and
·  Reading and access to information addresses the development agendas.

Making the Book Pay! was therefore deliberately made broad and/or not confined to any particular sector so that it allows varying viewpoints from many presenters on the above-listed possibilities.

Contributors to the 2017 Indaba are therefore urged to come up with ideas that will benefit all participants in the book value chain. The creative economy includes, among other players, the book industry that has in its book value chain: authors who are the creators of the works; publishers whose activities are to exploit intellectual property; the illustrators and designers; photographers; advertisers; booksellers or distributors; librarians who gather, process and provide wide access to reading and information materials; and the users who include school children, academics, adults, researchers, educational and training institutions, religious institutions, private and public business enterprises, universities, colleges, research institutions, and government and non-government institutions. The book industry provides income to all participants in the book value chain and earns revenue to the government in the form of taxes.

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

Abstracts of not more than 500 words word-processed in Times New Roman script with 1.15 line spacing should be submitted by 10 April 2017 by email to events@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 2017.  Presenters should submit the full papers and power-point presentations of the full paper by 31 May 2017. Power-point presentations must summarise the full paper in bullet form and should enable presenters to speak to the paper within the allotted time.

Please note that the topics provided below are meant to be guidelines for research areas although they may be used as research topics. Presenters are encouraged to submit their own innovative topics that address the suggested areas and which speak to the given Theme and sub-themes.

ZIBF 2017 THEME: MAKING THE BOOK PAY!

(1)  Creating the Africa we want through reading (Africa Agenda 2063)
a)  Teaching children to read at an early age – catch them young
b)  The role of the parents in reading
c)  Stimulating and inculcating the reading habit
d)  Narrowing the gap: new perspective in reading
e)  Pros and cons of remedial reading

(2)  Information Literacy Skills for the Digital Age
a)  Reading, Writing and Publishing for Survival – a Global Perspective
b)  Balancing e-reading and physical reading for sustainable development
c)  Assimilating social media technologies
d)  Technology enhancing pillars of sustainable development
e)  Challenges and Opportunities for  Libraries in the Digital Era

(3)  Economics of the Book

a)  Making academic research, writing and publishing pay
b)  Innovation in book development, marketing and distribution
c)  Inclusivity in research, writing, publishing and reading for vulnerable and marginalised groups
d)  The author, publisher and  reader dynamics
e)  Making the book affordable
f)  Writing for Communicable diseases and life threatening conditions

(4)  The Book and Cultural Preservation, Conservation and Transmission

a)  STEMitising reading for socio-economic development
b)  Making the Book relevant to urban and rural children
c)  Promoting Culture in the digital age
d)  Challenges and opportunities of writing and publishing books in indigenous languages
e)  Cultural dynamism and change
f)  Culture as a foundation for building peace and social cohesion
g)  Unpacking Zimbabwe's New Education Reform


(5)  Intellectual Property and Copyright

a)  Exploiting Copyright as an economic resource
b)  Public lending rights
c)  Copyright exceptions  and limitations
d)  Licensing of photocopying works in Zimbabwe
e)  Intellectual Property rights and relationship of publishers and libraries
f)  Anti-Book piracy – other country experiences and how that can be adopted by Zimbabwe

Kind regards

Mr Blazio Tafireyi
Chair, Executive Board, Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association