“The flight abroad of individuals with book-related skills as well as donor fatigue, or perception, or change of priorities, meant that ZIBFA was not guaranteed funds for its full operations,” said Zimunya.
He added since the 2009 ZIBF there had been a steady improvement and interest in ZIBFA activities.
“This we attribute to the resilient attitudes of all our positive stakeholders — writers, publishers, booksellers, educationists and librarians — who have shown an enduring commitment to the objectives and values for which ZIBF became world famous as ‘Africa’s premier book fair’ in the past,” he said.
“The Bulawayo Book Fair will be re-launched in 2012. It will run on two programmes namely the writers’, publishers’, booksellers’ and librarians’ workshop which will be on March 30 and the book exhibition on March 30 and 31.
“ZIBFA would like to assure all its stakeholders that future book fairs will be more deliberately and timeously planned,” he said.
Zimunya called for Bulawayo citizens, writers, educationists and scholars to visit, participate in and sample the Bulawayo Book Fair. The admission is free.