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The Slow Miracle of Publishing: How One Email from France Changed Everything

Omukhangos Books-FamilyWritten by Dr. Muthoni Omukhango
There are moments in publishing when your heart behaves like a Nigerian talking drum: loud enough for the entire village to hear. This was one of those moments.

The year was 2022.

I remember it vividly. I opened my email one morning and saw a message from France. Immediately my heart began doing gymnastics inside my chest. Not the polite kind of gymnastics. The dramatic Olympic kind. If anyone had placed a stethoscope on me that moment, they would have heard drums, cymbals, and possibly a small choir.

The story, however, had started earlier.

In November 2021, I had written to CLC France CLC France requesting consideration for translation sponsorship. It was a simple email but behind it was a quiet prayer: Lord, you said African voices would travel. I am sending this message as an act of obedience.

To my surprise and slight panic they replied positively. Two lines that have stayed with me all these years:

“Ok Mercy. Let’s do this.” Hervé Lessous said.

Now came the real work.

“Let’s do this,” I told myself, staring at the screen like a student about to sit an exam she had not quite revised for.

We prepared and submitted a shortlist of titles whose authors had graciously authorised us to represent their books for translation rights. Then we waited.

And waited.

Publishing, as it turns out, is not a fast-food restaurant. It is more like a slow-cooking pot of githeri (maize and beans) on a charcoal stove. It takes time, patience, and the occasional stirring of faith.

Then in October 2022, the email arrived.

France had reviewed the submissions and five titles had been pre-selected.

Five.

I read the message once. Then twice. Then a third time, just to confirm my eyes were not performing creative fiction.

The titles were:

Accountability – Nelly Kagoru Nelly Kagoru

Conceive Achieve – Julius Mwebia Julius Mugambi

Conceive Achieve for Teens – Adnah McKenna & Julius Mwebia Abiah Omukhango

The Grand Love Story of All Time – Joyce Maina

Taking Possession with Jesus – Faith N. Mathenge Faith Mathenge

When the translation awardees were announced at the 2nd African Christian Authors Book Award – ACABA Gala at NPC Woodley in November 2022, the authors Julius Mwebia and Adnah McKenna were understandably excited.

But I must confess something.

I was not just excited.

I was over-the-moon thrilled.

You see, this was the first time one of our English titles would be translated into another language through the ACABA initiative. For years we had spoken about exporting African Christian content to the world. That morning, it stopped being a vision statement and quietly became a testimony.

One of the selected titles carried a particularly beautiful symbolism—Conceive Achieve for Teens, written by a grandfather and a teenager. Wisdom from two generations meeting in one book. Experience shaking hands with youthful perspective.

It was a reminder that God often builds bridges across generations long before we realise we will need them.

And now, some years later, history seems to be tapping on the door again.

There is an opportunity to showcase African books in Italy, perhaps even in Poland and France. If I am honest, part of me feels slightly out of my wits. The other part simply remembers who sent me.

When the Lord sends someone, confidence does not come from personal brilliance. It comes from obedience.

So I go as a messenger, representing authors, stories, and voices from this beautiful continent.

In the photo, taken in Bangkok at Asia Christian Rights Fair ACREF in 2025, I am receiving the printed translated copies of the book from Hervé Lessous, now the Regional Director for Europe.

In the second photo, Julius and Adnah receive the book at the 5th ACABA Gala in 2025.

And as we look ahead to this coming week’s activities overseas, we declare something simple but powerful:

Good conversations.
Good reports.
And many testimonies.

Because sometimes a quiet email, sent in faith, travels farther than we ever imagined.

My sincere gratitude to Gary B. Chamberlin for his mentorship and guidance. Throwing me floaties in the deep end! 
See less — with African Christian Authors Book Award – ACABA 
 

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