[EN] Kenya: Conversation with Alex Nderitu, ebook Expert

Publishers & Books: Who is Alex Nderitu?

Alexander Nderitu: Alexander Nderitu is a poet, novelist and playwright from Kenya, East Africa. My birthday is 23 April, which is also William Shakespeare’s birthday and UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. Apart from writing fiction, I am a literary and theatre critic, and a promoter of progressive rap music.

You are considered by several actors in the book chain as one of the pioneers of the digital book in Africa. In 2001, you produced an e-book. Firstly, how would you define an e-book? What was the genesis of this initiative?

An e-book is any book that exists in digital format as opposed to print. Most people know me as an ‘African e-book pioneer’ because I published my first novel, When the Whirlwind Passes, online in 2001. The story behind it is quite interesting. I wrote two novels while at university, but back then it was very difficult for leisure reading to get published in my country. The few publishers that existed mainly published school textbooks. I didn’t want to write school materials; I wanted to entertain readers. I wanted to write thrillers like the novelists I read growing up. I subscribed to two foreign writing magazines, and through them, I learned about the emerging experimental e-book space. Various IT companies were offering authors ‘e-book conversion services’, and some famous novelists, like Stephen King, had been persuaded to release some stories in electronic format. In the UK, Patricia Le Roy was Booker-shortlisted for her e-book titled Angels of Russia. That was the first time a virtual book had been considered for such a prestigious prize. I had studied IT at university, so I converted one of my manuscripts into e-book format and posted it online as a free download in 2001. After several hundred downloads, I moved it to a commercial platform called eBookMall.com in 2002.
Since then, Amazon has emerged as the industry leader in the e-book space, although there are many other players, including Lulu and NOOK. Afro-centric online e-book platforms include DigitalBack Books, EKitabu and Bahati Books.