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Amyn aka The LipGloss Mafia

Something Bookish Podcast

Muthoni

Wendy

On this episode, we discuss the significance of King Charles visit to Kenya and how neo-colonialism persists and thrives at the seeming aid of African leadership. Fret not though, while leadership is the weakest link in the decolonial dialogue, artists and authors continue to push back and write alternative narratives. We share some of our reading recommendations that we feels challenge and push back against colonial narratives.



Books we mention:

1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

2. It's a Continent by Chinny Ukata and Astrid Madimba

3. Africa is not a Country by Dipo Folarin

4. Uncommonwealth by Kojo Karam

5. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

6. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi



We'd love for you to add on to this growing list.

This week we dive into the magical and oft times messy world of bookclubs. We reminisce on how we met, spoiler alert- it was at a book club!

Together and separately, we have been responsible for founding and running some of the most successful book clubs in Kenya and we share all the wisdom we have gathered over time; some best practice and anecdotes on how to start and keep going.

We hope this guide empowers you to create a thriving book club that not only discusses great literature but also builds lasting connections among its members. If you have any questions or want to share your book club success stories, reach out to us on Instagram @somanamipodcast. Happy reading!

What happens when two kindred spirits, driving purely by passion and vision and not so much common sense come together? They dare to put together an African Book Fair and commit to bringing in 10000 books to the country in their first attempt! Madness!



This is Muthoni and Wendy’s story of bringing to life the African Book Fair, held from 1-5 August 2023 at the McMillan Memorial Library. In this episode, they go back, tracing where the idea started, how it was birthed and grew legs and then wings, and took off! It was an interesting journey to say the least, with lots of highs and lows and in-betweens, but fuelled by the support of the community around them, they executed the largest fair of African Books that Kenya has ever seen!



Strap in, it's going to be a great ride!

Since her debut Stay with Me came out in 2017 to critical acclaim, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ has gone on to become a household name. The story of Yejide and Akin is one that tagged at our heartstrings and for a lot of readers, it opened up wounds and conversations and reflections. We here
at Soma Nami Podcast, as with the rest of the world, have been waiting with bated breath for a sophomore book to drop, so when we heard rumours that A Spell of Good Things was in the works, we knew we had to get Ms Ayọ̀bámi on the podcast.

 

A Spell of Good Things, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ second book was published on 7th Feb 2023 by Knopf (US) and 9th Feb 2023 by Canongate (UK), and he reception across the globe has been really positive. We wanted to have a conversation with Ayọ̀bámi to not only introduce this new
book to readers but to also talk to us a little bit about her two journey as a writer, her views on the reception of ‘Stay with Me’ and hopes for ‘A
Spell of Good Things’ and  and her writing process. Ayobami candidly talks to us about all this, including the number of rejections she faced with her debut novel.  We also tease out some of the themes her two books carry - all spoiler free, we promise.

 

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you.

 

P.S  This episode was recorded through a virtual live recording with an audience who had the chance to have their questions answered in real time.

When we sat down to reflect on how our reading habits have changed or evolved over the years we quickly realised that this could not be a one-dimensional conversation.  As a starting point, we sought to answer the question, 'Why do we read?' And with so many things influencing why and how we read, we had to go back to the beginning to unpack. We take a journey back in time and reminisce on our reading evolution from reading age inappropriate books as pre-adolescents to reckoning with the influence of social media on our reading choices. We pose the question to the listener, what has been your reading evolution story? 



On this episode;

- We reflect on our early influences on reading and the kind of books we read growing up

- We talk about coming into our consciousness and being deliberate with our reading choices 

- We talk about how Bookstagram algorithm has affected our reading choices and debate whether this is a good or bad thing; and

- Finally, we talk about our intentions moving forward. 



Join us as we take several tangents, all worthy of your time, with this conversation 



P.S Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you can get notified when new episodes go live. It is also a great way to support the work that we do here. You can get in touch with us through our socials or email info@somanami.co.ke