By Andrew Mulenga
Last week, the
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in collaboration with the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services through the Zambia Copyright
Office held a two day seminar inviting about forty literary authors, publishers
and interested parties.
Held at Mika
Lodge in Lusaka, the roundtable was overseen by Sonia Cruickshank, Senior
Program Officer, Copyright Development Division, WIPO in Geneva and among other
key visiting speakers were Dora Makwinja head of the Copyright Society
of Malawi (COSOMA) and
Greenfield Chilongo Executive Director, Zimbabwe Reproduction Rights Organisation
(ZIMPCOPY).
Over a two day
period, the seminar participants discussed local and foreign copyright laws,
effective management of copyright and benefits for developing countries as well
as managing use of content in the digital environment.
During her
presentation, the Zambia Copyright Office deputy registrar Grace Kasungami explained
that government had realised that most writers and publishers were not aware they
were required to either have their books registered at her office, with the Zambia
Reprographic Rights Society (ZARRSO) or deposited at the National Archives. ZARRSO
was set up a couple of years ago aimed at “Rewarding authors and publishers for
the reproduction of their works”.
A wide-ranging selection of titles from cookbooks to biographies by various Zambian authors (Courtesy Book Planet, Arcades) |
Nevertheless, as
smooth sailing as the deliberations might have been, a number of unprecedented
issues seeped through the dialogues to take centre stage. Key among these were a
general feeling that they (Zambian authors) are not appreciated locally, uncertainty
with regards the opportunity for them to market their work to the world during
the UNWTO, as well as a mood that they too need to benefit from the security holograms
that are soon to be introduced to audio and video compact discs.
“Most writers do
not know that they are supposed to deposit a book with anyone except take them
directly onto the market I don’t know how the ministry can help to spread that
information and tell the writers the benefits of doing it,” explained Zambia
Women Writers Association’s (ZAWWA) Malia Mzyce Sililo following Kasungami’s address.
“I know for sure some people like the American
library visit publishers and writers associations in Zambia and I have had the
opportunity of recommending a few. Some make an effort to contact Zambian
writers and in the end you find more Zambian books in America than in Zambian
libraries”
“If you visit any
Zambian library you will find no book written by a Zambian. Even the so-called
custodians of Zambian books you speak of have no Zambian books. Maybe our
writing is not good enough, it is as if they are ashamed of us Zambian writers,
they look down on our writing but an American library will remember that there
is a Malia Mzyce Sililo somewhere, so I don’t know how we are going to grow
this industry”
Sililo light-heartedly
said if Zambian writers were that bad, it is better to give the badly written
books to the younger generation whom by being exposed to the bad work may feel
ashamed, yet inspired and try to improve on them out of patriotic pride.
The author of Picking up the Pieces as well as several
English school text books also revealed that ZAWWA has in its possession over 50
manuscripts, but she wonders where they are going to take them, the cost of
printing and publishing being uncontrollably exorbitant here in Zambia. She
publishes with MK Publishers of Uganda who do not demand an upfront payment.But Theresa Phiri, a planner in the Ministry of Education, assured the gathering that things are not as bad as Sililo had put them and that there was still hope for Zambian authors.
“The other day I
walked into a bookstore to buy books for my grandson who is in Grade four and
my daughter who is in Grade 11, all the books that are being used in schools
are written by Zambians,” narrated Phiri “I bought all the subjects and every
single one of them was written by a Zambian except for the ones in English
literature. I bought Animal Farm, The Concubine and Things Fall Apart, but I just want to commend the Zambian writers
also”.
By the same
token, Mabvuto Zulu a representative of Longman Zambia, the educational book
publishers claimed that there are a lot of books in the works.
“Many (writers) are
saying that Zambian writers are not supported.
We pay Billions, now Millions in royalties to Zambian writers year in
year out, there are some writers who approach us and we tell them certain
criteria that they should meet, and when we tell them they do not come back.”Perhaps unintentionally, Zulu indicated that Longman demand what may be very prohibitive standards, this may probably be linked to Sililo’s earlier concerns where she claimed the neglect of Zambian writers.
Zulu almost
certainly amplified Sililo’s worries, which brings to thought; are Zambian
authors really any good? None of them have been introduced into the Schools literature
in English syllabus, even as we approach the nation’s fiftieth independence anniversary
the accepted standard is that mostly written by West African writers and the
now transcendent George Orwell and William Shakespeare. It solicits the long-lasting
question; Are Zambian authors worth reading?
Nevertheless,
whether or not Zambian authors – particularly the fiction writers – are
managing to infiltrate classrooms and libraries, one thing that is for sure is
that they do have a very strong presence in book stores. Taking a visit to Planet Books, a bookstore at the Arcades Shopping Centre in Lusaka one discovers an array of titles by Zambian authors, based home and away which reveals that they have been quite busy, writing on various topics from cookery to economics, politics to poetry and so on.
Unlike the empty library shelves described by Sililo, on these you find Dambisa Moyo’s critically acclaimed Dead Aid, Ellen Banda-Aaku’s Patchwork which won the 2010 Penguin Prize for African writers an accolade she holds among many that also includes a Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa. There is also Zambian Cookbook by Sylvia C. Banda and Hector Banda, Born and Bred in the Zambezi Valley by Jane Vlahakis Nash and Shatis Vlahakis, Unequal to the task by Elias Chipimo Junior, Across the brics, positioning the nation by Obine Bwalya, Let us pray for Zambia and let his Kingdom come by Chishala Kateka as well as Information and Broadcasting Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga’s Levy Patrick Mwanawasa: an incentive for prosperity.
Anyhow, during last week’s gathering Alick F. C. Musonda the author of 15 books including Tourist Guide to Street Lingua-Franca, the hilarious Maliongo's Adventures series and some local language titles raised a concern on how Zambian authors can get their books to Livingston during the UNWTO.
“Foreigners (visiting delegates) will want to know what is happening in the mind of a Zambian, and the only way they can really do this is through our literature” he said.
Representing government, the Zambia Copyright Office staff present referred Musonda to the National Arts Council (NAC) who will be coordinating the display of books, photographs, music CD’s and DVD’s, fabrics, prints, paintings, sculptures, basketry, jewelry and semi-precious stones at various venues during the general assembly.
Responding to this, one attendee questioned how much
coordination there is between the ministry of information and broadcasting
services and what he described as the “newly created, possibly active but
obviously lopsided towards tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Arts” because if they want to work in isolation they will
not get anything done particularly with regards the holograms.
“Although that one is outside this meeting, there is a
lot of coordination, you may wish to know that most of our creative arts from
the creative industry are coming from tourism and we have a task force specifically
for the holograms which is in fact chaired by the NAC chairperson Mulenga
Kapwepwe herself” interjected Kasungami
on behalf of government.
During the
seminar it was also learned that the much talked about holograms to be
introduced in September on audio visual products will not mean an immediate
curb of piracy.
“For Malawi, how
far we are in terms of fighting piracy, we faced the same challenges you same
ones you have. We already have the hologram, but it’s limited to sound
recording, we learned from Ghana, but are now ahead of them because their
pirates were clever, they were able to copy the holograms,” explained Malawi’s
Makwinja an anti-piracy devotee who is also the only African board member of the
International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO).
“In 1999 we
changed so the one we are using now has more advanced features, but we have
only applied it to local work and not imported work. We have moved to
audio-visual work and we are now in the process of negotiating with book
publishers who have also been demanding for the hologram as you are doing here
in this meeting”.
The issue of the
hologram was heated throughout the seminar with attendees showing scepticism as
to whether it will be a success even on the audio visual publications. Others
saw it as a losing battle citing the widespread digital file sharing and the
fact that every market place in the country has small shops with posters that
read “CD burning done here”. In some of these shops the latest MP3 music files
can go for as little as 50ngwee whereas the latest Hollywood movies go for K3
even before they premier in local cinemas. It was also mentioned that the
younger generation were the largest culprits because it was not uncommon to
find a 15-year-old with over 1,000 songs compressed on their mobile phones yet
they do not even know the shelf price of a CD in a music store.
But closing the
deliberations, Kasungami assured all the participants that there is still room
to address all the issues that were raised.
“We will be
having plenary sessions and round tables and this is just the first of its
kind, just the beginning so you can at least give government credit, besides
that you can knock on our door twenty four hours” she said “We are using a very
old copyright act only a small portion was amended for the hologram. There are
plans to have the whole act amended. Where you see we are not working you can
push us and make us work. Let’s start identifying what issues we want amended
in the act, this is just the beginning “.
And as a closing
word of advice to the authors and publishers from Cruickshank, who is a lawyer
by profession, she advised them all to take their work very seriously and
ensure that it is well preserved for their own personal copyright records and for
future generations to enjoy.
“It really is
important for your culture to be maintained through books. If the books are
deposited in the national archives it is the only historical way of knowing who
has done what,” advised Cruickshank.
Meanwhile, in closing the seminar, Kenneth Musamvu, the registrar of
copyrights thanked all for attendance deeming the meeting a great success and
assuring them all that government will look into all the issues that had been
raised.
Great article, indeed we need lots of publicity for our local authored works.
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