This article focuses on the various stages of transitions the Somali society has gone through in relations to arts and culture and our efforts over the last fifteen years to help our society transition from oral to a written culture through the launching of Hargeysa International Book Fair in 2008.
Paper long abstract:
This article focuses on the various stages of transitions the Somali society has gone through in relations to arts and culture and our efforts over the last fifteen years to help our society transition from oral to a written culture through the launching of Hargeysa International Book Fair (HIBF) in 2008. In order to better understand the historical contexts and conditions in which we started HIBF and operate, the first part of this article provides the necessary background, followed by analysis of the state of Somali literature and the transformation we have witnessed. Lastly I conclude with some reflections on the impact of these efforts, HIBF and what I foresee both for Somali literature and in the wider African context.