"It's Our Turn to Eat" author cries foul

Soon after the serialisation of Michela Wrong's book - It's Our Turn to Eat - started in the Daily Nation, a pdf of the book was posted on a number of email groups and websites. Word got to Ms Wrong that her book - in pdf - was doing the rounds in Kenya. She wrote to complain about the injustice and illegality of it all and implored readers to be patiennt and order for a copy from abroad as local bookshops declined to stock copies for fear of being sued by those mentioned - we are talking of moneyed individuals who have all kinds of lawyers at their beck and call. The Nairobi Star and a few enterprising individual are offering the book to the public.



Here is Michela Wrong's letter as copy-pasted from one such website/email group:



March 16, 2009

Just so there is no confusion: the PDF version of my book being offered on this website is a bootleg copy, not authorised by me orJohn Githongo.When I was putting feelers out to the Kenyan media over a possible newspaper serialisation, I entrusted a copy to several individuals inNairobi on the strict understanding it would go no further. My trust was clearly betrayed. So it's an illegal pirate version (I can't vouch for its contents even being same as the book, by the way, as it maywell be an early, pre-edit version) -- and anyone passing it along is also doing something illegal.

I understand why people are doing this. I'm incredibly pleased there's so much Kenyan interest in the book, and I also quite understand the huge exasperation people feel at not being able to get their hands on the book immediately because booksellers are hesitating to stock it. However, if my book keeps circulating in this form in Nairobi, it has damaging implications not just for me but for any author who wants to write about Kenya in future. They will struggle to find a publisher willing to put money behind them, as Kenya will have won a reputation as a country where books get stolen, not sold, and copyright law has no meaning. I certainly would never again offer a serialisation to aKenyan newspaper, as I'm pretty sure this copy was stolen during thatprocess. That's not a great favour to do future Kenyan readers. So please have a heart and stop this.
The decent thing for any website manager to do would be to buy the rights to an e-book from my publisher so I at least make something from every download. Why has no one from this website even seen fit to approach me with this request?My address is not hard to find, it's on facebook, for God's sake. The failure to attempt to legitimise this download constitutes an act of theft.

This "it's impossible to buy" business is, in fact, exaggerated. The book CAN be easily bought, off http://www.amazon.co.uk/. Going down that route doesn't take that long, it's perfectly legal and yes, the copies are arriving in people's PO Boxes without any problem. Get your friends to bring copies in or send them: the book is on sale now in Western capitals, Dar Es Salaam, Johannesburg, and will shortly be available in Kampala.

Finally, please be aware that this is only a retail industry boycott. There is no government ban, no libel suit pending. Any enterprising Kenyan is therefore entirely free to order aconsignment off my publisher's representative (contact: anita.zih@azabs.nl This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), and then dispose of the copies at will. You don't have to go down the pirate route. I am in the meantime pursuing the possibility of a local, cheap imprint with a Kenyan publisher, but these things take time to organise.

Personally, I wouldn't want to read the book on a computer screen. And if people are going to go to the lengths of downloading the PDF onto a memory stick, taking it to a photocopying centre and laboriously having all 339 pages printed out, I would have thought they might just as well order the thing off Amazon and wait for a week.

Michela Wrong