Henry Chakava is one of the most recognisable publishers in Africa today. He recently marked his 70th birthday, and to honour him, East African Educational Publishers (EAEP), which he chairs, launched Coming of Age: Strides in African Publishing, a collection of essays written by some of the best literary minds in the region.

Chief among them are Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Micere Mugo and Kiarie Kamau, the current managing director of EAEP. There are also essays by Chakava’s contemporaries in the region, Walter Bgoya, the founder of Mkuki na Nyota Publishers of Tanzania and James Tumusiime, the founder of Fountain Press in Uganda. US-based Kenyan literary critic Boniface Gikandi is also a contributor.

The bulk of the essays dwell on how the writers know Chakava and the impact he has had in the world of publishing. Coming of Age: Strides in African Publishing, is basically a Festschrift — a collection of writings in honour of a respected individual during his or her lifetime.

Chakava joined UK-based Heinemann Educational Publishers after completing his studies in literature and philosophy at the University of Nairobi. He started off as an editor at Heinemann and in five years had risen to the post of managing editor.

Heinemann had the very successful African Writers Series that featured Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Elechi Amadi and Ayi Kwei Armah, among others.

From the manuscripts he kept receiving, Chakava felt there was a market for lighter, more engaging reading. He floated the idea to his bosses in the UK, but they rejected it. Undeterred, he pressed on and the result was the Spear Series, which features titles like John Kiriamiti’s My Life in Crime — Kenya’s bestselling novel to date.

Still, Chakava wanted a free hand to embark on publishing in local languages, particularly Kiswahili. After a long struggle, which involved defying his bosses in London, he went ahead and published the Masomo ya Msingi course.

“The course was to later become the bread and butter of EAEP, owing to the consistent sales over the years,” writes Kiarie Kamau in his essay The Guru of Publishing: Assessing Henry Chakava’s Contribution in Africa.

Chakava was to later buy out Heinemann and renamed it East African Educational Publishers.

In his essay titled Henry Chakava: The Gory and Glory of African Language Publishing, Ngugi wa Thiong’o pays tribute to a man who published his Gikuyu books, when conventional wisdom, at the time, dictated otherwise.

“He was once my student, whose papers I graded. Then he became my publisher who graded my manuscripts; but most important he became a friend who stood by me in times of happiness and sorrow, even in those times when being seen with me was a dangerous thing,” writes Ngugi.

The essayists tell of the struggle of Kenyan publishing, from the days when it was controlled by British-owned multinationals and decisions were made in London.

The big shots then were Oxford University Press, Heinemann Educational Publishers, Macmillan Publishers and Longman Publishers. Then Heinemann became East African Educational Publishers, headed by Chakava, Longman became Longhorn East African Publishers, while Macmillan became Moran.

Oxford is the only multinational to have survived the onslaught of local publishers.

The essays also show how local publishers fought to have the education publishing scene — the bread and butter of local publishing — liberalised. It was previously the preserve of government-owned parastatals like Kenya Literature Bureau, Jomo Kenyatta Foundation and the Kenya Institute of Education — now Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

Locally owned publishing houses were left to publish supplementary texts for schools.

Chakava teamed up with publishers like David Muita of Moran, Janet Njoroge then of Longhorn, and Gacheche Waruinge of Phoenix, to push the government to liberalise the industry.

Their efforts came to fruition at the onset of the Free Primary Education where all publishers, including the government-owned parastatals submitted their works for vetting.

All in all, this book, which retails at Ksh1,200 ($12) will be a useful reference about local and regional publishing for both students and researchers.