Radiobook Rwanda featured in Wasafiri, Issue 105, ‘After Grenfell’
No Bindings is in the latest print issue of Wasafiri - Issue 105, ‘After Grenfell' - talking Radiobook Rwanda with our co-publishers Louise Umutoni-Bower, founder and director of Huza Press, and Otieno Owino (formerly of Kwani Trust).
"To me, RadioBook Rwanda means innovation in the modes of publishing and/or storytelling. […] I think the effect of the innovation is best felt when the reader (I use this broadly to include the listener) experiences the entirety of every radiobook. This, however, does not take away from experience of the reader who will only engage with one component of the radiobooks. In a nutshell, RadioBook Rwanda was able to publish print books, undertake translation, produce audiobooks, and expand storytelling possibilities in one project — something I had not seen done before.” - Otieno Owino.
“RadioBook Rwanda for me was about two key things: experimentation and collaboration. Experimentation because it was an attempt to challenge perceptions about ‘the book’ and what form it ought to take. […]There was an unspoken but clear sense that bringing together the things that make us unique would strengthen the project and the products from the collaboration.” - Louise Umotoni-Bower.
“I remember being moved to tears the first time I read Mutsinzi’s ‘Waiting for Words’. In fact, I listen to Natacha Muziramakenga’s reading of it on Spotify even now, over a year later, and it moves me each time in a slightly different way. […] What’s more, I’ve noticed at festivals and talks, because of the way the books are made, people hold them with sure care and reverence. They are gifts.” - Lily Green.
Together, we discuss the process of coming together as individual publishers to create Radiobook Rwanda, and what we learned about the fluid nature of storytelling from these beautiful pocket-size books.
Our thanks to Kate Wallis for the interview. You can find the rest of our discussion in Wasafiri Magazine, Issue 105, Spring 2021 - 'Working Creatively Across Media, Language and Location: East Africa-UK Literary Collaborations’.