Book Publishers Association of Malawi (Bpam) says it is still concerned with the rise in cases of book piracy in the country.
The association’s president Maureen Masamba said book piracy has led to players in the industry failing to earn from their sweat.
“Book piracy is killing the industry and this is something that we want to tackle heavily this year. We want to take a lead role to sensitise the masses about piracy. There is a need to respect copyright laws,” Masamba said.
Her remarks come barely three months after the Bpam team leader dared players in the industry to hold hands and work together to stop book piracy.
The association recently also took a bold step in anti-piracy fight when it held an interface with head teachers from schools in both rural and urban areas in Blantyre organised with funding from Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) through Copyright Fund.
Meanwhile, Masamba has described 2024 as a good year for Bpam.
She said for the first time, Bpam had audited and certified financial accounts.
Masamba also said that in 2024 Malawi made great strides when its members got elected into African Publishers Network (Apnet) board.
“I and John Yohane were elected into Apnet board which is good for Malawi. I also had a chance of attending the Sharjah International Book Fair Publishers Conference in Dubai and African Publishers Conference in Harare, Zimbabwe,” Masamba said.
She said last year, Bpam secured funding from Cosoma through Copyright Fund for anti-piracy symposia in three regions of the country and that they were hoping for more this year.
“Funding of Bpam remains a challenge, our dependency on membership subscriptions is not adequate. Because of lack of, business, members default on their subscription,” the Bpam president said.
In another development, Claim Mabuku, a publishing and bookselling company, has a new board of directors.
The directors were elected recently during Claim Mabuku’s annual general meeting held in Salima.
Reverend Michael John Phiri is the board’s new chairperson while other directors are reverends Cronon Mazunda, Anderson Juma, Jim Botoman Mbewe, Maxwell Chiwoko, Canon Mphatso Luzuwano, Rodgers Piriminta and Aaron Chaola.
