Bookworms Muthoni Muiruri and Wendy Njoroge met at a book club founded by the former. Wendy was then a member of the Soma Nami book club that was dedicated to African literature.
The two saw that it was a challenge to locally find the books they wanted to read. They saw it as an opportunity to make books by African authors accessible in the country by co-founding a bookstore, Soma Nami Books.
Two years in, they started their first annual African Book Fair, with its third edition held last week. The days were filled with activities and panel discussions that center African authors in book spaces, as readers walked across book aisles for their next best reading adventure.
This year, the book fair moved from their usual McMillan Memorial Library at the heart of Nairobi city to yet another haven for readers nearby – Maktaba Kuu, Kenya National Library Services.
At the ground floor of the library’s Tower building, books were displayed in sections, capturing the diverse literary works of the African continent: North Africa, East Africa, South Africa, West Africa, children’s books, the liberation corner, Kiswahili books, and the Black Diaspora.
Another section, canon, showcased the pioneers of African and Black literature, such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Maya Angelou, and Bell Hooks. Then there’s a section that celebrates the revolutionary works of the recently departed Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
On the walls were artworks of and quotes by renowned authors across the continent and diaspora, like Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Trevor Noah, Lola Shoneyin, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Alaa Al Aswany, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Wangari Maathai, and Eliud Kipchoge.
Soma Nami Books manager Virginia Njoroge said the first franchise of the book fair in 2023 was graced by 5,000 people in the six-day event.
When they opened the bookstore and the fair, it was an affirmation to them that Kenyans yearn to read books by Africans and the Black diaspora. She said that although the desire exists, the readership base is yet to grow to its full potential.
They decided on an initiative dubbed The Road to 54, where they stock books by Africans from all 54 countries at the bookstore.