VERBATIM FROM OUR AUTHORS DURING
OUR 40 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
HELD IN 2005:

 

Marjorie O.Macgoye

“To congratulate EAEP on its first 40 years is to revive memories of the development of Kenyan letters and learning since independence.

In 1965, we felt that everything around us was new and the sky was the limit. More people were reading, writing, studying, building and travelling than ever before.

It was obvious that we needed to expand and localize our book production.

Scholars, poets, booksellers and technicians came together to do just that. Heinemann took root in Kenya and assumed a new personality.

Changes of name, place and personnel were bound to follow. African writers were news. They still are.

Forty years is just a staging post. We celebrate it but we also look forward, still reaching for the sky.”

Alfred Ojwang

“I t was in 1985 when my co-author (Francis K'Opiyo) and I submitted a handwritten science manuscript to the then Heinemann Educational Books (EA).

The Publishing Manager looked at the handwritten manuscript with consternation. “A Science book for Standard One pupils?” he asked.

We knew one thing about young children. They are fascinated by bright pictures and big letters. This is what we pleaded for. The book should arouse their interest and the teachers would facilitate the rest.

We worked studiously with the Publishing Manager to come up with the first title, which later grew into a series — the first of its kind in Kenya .

By the time the East African Educational Publishers was born in 1992, the firm had established a niche in primary science publications. It solidified this position in 1998 with the launch of “Science Matters”, a Science Course for Primary Schools.

On behalf of other authors, I wish you a happy and prosperous 40 th anniversary.”

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

On my own behalf and of the International Center for Writing and Translation, University of California at Irvine , I would like to congratulate EAEP for 40 years of publishing.

EAEP, under the leadership of its Chairman, has been a pioneer in Educational, Academic and General publishing in Africa , setting the highest of professional standards. Its list of writers and authors, covering as it does the entire continent, is a who is who in African thought. As an intellectual path-finder, its impact on what is read and studied in our schools and universities has been positive, a mirror of Kenya , East Africa and Africa .

EAEP has been at the forefront in publishing African languages and translations from English into Kiswahili, in the process creating firm foundation for new literatures in Africa and new directions in African thought.

It has been an honour for me to be published by you and I join you and all your admirers in Kenya , Africa and the world in celebrating your 40 years of existence.

The best is still to come and I am sure that EAEP will more than meet the challenges of the next forty years.”

Chinua Achebe

Please accept on behalf of your Board of Directors, members of staff, and your authors, my congratulations and good wishes on the 40 th anniversary of East African Educational Publishers Ltd.

I cannot be there to enjoy this momentous occasion with you in person, but I will celebrate with you in my spirit and memory.