The Kachere Tree
The Kachere tree is a fig tree, native to Malawi. Once it grows, it produces a a big tree with lots of shade, and therefore chiefs like to hold their court under a Kachere tree; and when the first mission schools were established under trees, Kachere trees were preferred, so that even Kamuzu Banda, future One-Party President,  had the privilege of learning the alphabet under a Kachere tree. And long before that,
when the explorer and missionary David Livingstone
and the chiefs of Nkhotakota on the Lakeshore met,
                                                                     they did so, of course, under a Kachere tree, as its
                                                                     shade proved so convenient for discussions.

    Therefore, we thought, Kachere Series would be a good name for our books: we invite you to sit under our (virtual) Kachere tree, to discuss in its shade, to learn and to enjoy. And if you are a writer, maybe you have a manuscript to contribute.

Ownership
The Kachere Series is a non-profit making publisher, owned by the Department of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Malawi. The members of the Department are the Editors:
        Dr Klaus Fiedler, Managing Editor
        Dr Felix Chingota, Deputy
        Dr J.C. Chakanza, Head of Department
        Dr Imran Shareef, Lecturer
        Right Rev Dr Patrick Kalilombe, Lecturer
        Mrs Chimwemwe Katumbi, Lecturer
        Dr Martin Ott, Lecturer

Remit
The remit of the Kachere Series is to "publish books and journals on religion, culture and society from Malawi." Though religion, (often in its interface with society and culture) dominates the list, it is by no means restricted to it.

History Of Kachere
Since the first book (Church, Law and Political Transition in Malawi) came out in May 1995, an average of over 10 books a year have been published. While in the beginning the figure was about 5 a year, it now stands at about 20.

Scholarship
While we also like to publish popular books, many of our books are of scholarly origin. These are especially Kachere Monographs and Kachere Theses, but scholarship is not confined to these two sub-series.

Languages
The Kachere Series publishes in English and in as many of the other Malawian languages as possible. So far there are titles in Nyanja/Chewa, Tumbuka, Tonga, Yawo and Lambya. They are published as Mvunguti Books or under Lydia Print.

Cooperation
The Kachere Series cooperates with other publishers through co-publishing, it hosts the Lydia Print titles and also promotes a few titles from other publishers that are relevant to Kachere.