The West, Central, North, East, and Southern Africa as well as the Caribbean sections were each stocked with books from African authors and those in the diaspora
By Nyarinda Maureen
I went to the African Book Fair at the McMillan Memorial Library, Nairobi’s oldest library along Banda Street, hoping to be enthralled by books from all corners of Africa and experience the magic of African storytelling from the continent's and diaspora African writers.
Organised by Soma Nami Books, a pan-African bookstore, the ABF is a week-long affair that promises readers and literature enthusiasts an eclectic collection of African books. Now in its second year, it kicked off on Tuesday, 6 August and ended on Sunday, 11 August.
The venue is one of the city’s oldest buildings. The library was opened in 1931 for Europeans only and its doors flung open for Kenyan users in 1962 as the country approached independence.
The Books Collection
Books at the fair were arranged and displayed according to regions; the West, Central, North, East, and Southern Africa and the Caribbean sections were each stocked with books from African authors and those in the diaspora. There were some specialty curated corners, my personal favourites—the Children’s, Feminism, Canon, and Liberation books. I loved that the organisers of the Fair, with Ubuntu Collective, showcased an impressive collection on liberation and reclamation by protest writers from Africa and beyond. The section had books such as Mau Mau: The Story of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army from Within, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Britain’s Gulag, A New History of Tanzania, Cult of Progress, A Grain of Wheat, Unbowed, and Silence Would be Treason.
It was easy to walk the entire floor of the Fair, view the books, and get assistance from volunteers who’d recommend books that suit your taste before making a buying decision. My sole purpose for attending this fair was to acquire books from underrepresented African countries such as South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, Morocco, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Namibia, Cape Verde, Burundi, Algeria, Sao Tome and Principe, and Mauritius. I had noticed earlier in the year that I mostly read East African literature and other popular fiction books from West Africa.
I saw a Burundian book for the first time, Small Country by Gaёl Faye, that I must read before the year ends, and one title each from Algeria, Morocco, Zambia, Cameroon, Senegal, and Ethiopia from authors I didn’t know who feature in my To be Read (TBR) list. The joy of seeing those books and being introduced to stories from those countries, wanting them despite not having money to purchase all of them immediately, fulfilled me.
According to Sitawa Namwalie, an award winning Kenyan poet, performer and playwright who participated in the ABF as a panellist, “It was so amazing how much productivity there is right now of African books from all these brilliant writers. Gone are the days when you had to wait for the African Writers Series to read an African-authored book.” The African Writers Series is a book series published from 1962-2003 by Heinemann Educational Books that focused on works by African writers.
Sitawa reminisced about her childhood days going to McMillan Library and sincerely hopes that, “Once the library is restored, they can stock African books from contemporary African authors.” In my view, the ABF has presented us a platform to know books by Africans and set the foundation for us to interrogate what makes African literature and even ask about the underrepresented authors.
While I loved that African writers who live in the diaspora represented their countries—such as Imbolo Mbue from Cameroon, Alain Mabancou from Congo, Yaa Gyasi from Ghana, Abdulrazak Gurnah from Tanzania, Leila Aboulela from Sudan, Ngugi wa Thiong’o from Kenya, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria, NoViolet Bulawayo from Zimbabwe, Meron Hadero from Ethiopia, Tahar Ben Jelloun from Morocco, and Nadifa Mohamed from Somalia—I felt like Africans living in the continent didn’t have enough exposure. The authors mentioned are popular, award-winning authors with huge commercial success, prizes to their names, and several book titles who’ve made it big in their home countries and have placed them on the literary map. I wanted to see more from writers I otherwise wouldn’t know existed had they not been spotlighted by the ABF.
Panels and quizzes
The hybrid nature of the Fair—combining panel discussions, master classes, experiential activities, and book sales—made it wholesome and even more vibrant than the first edition. The African Book Quiz was a fun activity testing people’s literary knowledge on African books that I had the pleasure of hosting. We had a dance party, which is the essence of being African; dance as healing, as community, as celebration. There were children’s storytelling activities by Wangari the Storyteller, Aleya Kassam and Laura Ekumbo of KaBrazen. There was also a Nairobi Sketch Tour, in addition to a masterclass with Wendy Njoroge and Muthoni Muiruri, founders of Soma Nami Books, on building sustainable literary communities.
As Kenyans agitate for proper governance in what has widely been termed by the media as the “Gen-Z protests,” the ABF curators held space for participants and attendees to engage in conversations about generational wars, literary activism, mental health, and healing in the community. Onyango Otieno, a poet, Afro-masculinity coach, and one of the panellists for the Men, Masculinity and Mental Health session, is grateful to Soma Nami Books for creating space to discuss men and masculinity. “Visibility is so important. Literature and identity are intricately aligned and can help us close gender gaps, and get awareness on identity and societal issues of men, women, and queer people’s experience.” He wishes that conversations on masculinity and identity could occur on a much larger scale and the Fair could happen in different towns. This would enable young people, especially men, to get their voices heard and resources on how to address the issues they face.
What next for the Book Fair?
For the next edition of the ABF, I hope that the organisers will exhibit lots of content— both digital and print—from Lusophone, Francophone, Arab, and Swahili-speaking countries, whether translated into English or not. This will help the Fair to become a solid portrayal of African literature. This also presents a selling problem to the Fair dubbed “the biggest sale of African books,” but an African literature fan can dream, right? I enjoyed being surrounded by so many books, so many book lovers, and having important conversations on the state of African literature and why it is so important for us to craft authentic African stories.
I reached out to Wendy Njoroge, the co-founder of the ABF, for a quick chat about this year’s event. “We are immensely proud to see our reader-focused celebration of African storytelling continuing to attract thousands of readers in Nairobi. We are committed to expanding the representation to all 54 African states in future editions.” Yay! I absolutely co-sign on that.
The ABF, in my view, is the right ground for publishing professionals and the entire literary ecosystem to meet, network, take on their next projects, and transform the boundaries of African literature.