A new haven for book lovers has opened up in Nairobi! Soma Nami Books was founded by Muthoni Muiruri and Wendy Njoroge. The bookstore features a wide selection of books, as well as coffee, wine, a book box subscription service, and a book club. 

Muthoni, psychologist by profession, is a bookpreneur and fierce literary activist and enthusiast. She brings to Soma Nami Books a passion and drive that derive from years of promoting a reading culture in Nairobi and creating reading communities. Muthoni also serves as an Independent Book Reviewer having reviewed books from some of the biggest publishing companies in the industry. Wendy is in marketing and has worked with over 25 local and international brands in the course of a 10-year career. The self-proclaimed bookworm is an advocate for literacy, passionate about building reading communities and proud of having founded the largest corporate bookclub in Kenya with over 3,000 members.

Soma Nami Books is located within The Greenhouse Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The bright and colorful space is warm, inviting, and hosts a magnificent “wall of fame” featuring portraits of major African literary figures. The new book hub also hosts events such as book club meet-ups, as well as “Books & Brunch,” an event held in celebration of International Women’s day in March. 

When we discovered Soma Nami on Instagram, we immediately fell in love with the project and caught up with Muthoni and Wendy via email to learn more. 

 

Brittle Paper

Congrats on opening Soma Nami Books. Tell us about the project. Who are the key collaborators?

Muthoni and Wendy

Thank you. Soma Nami Books started out as a book review blog by Muthoni in 2017 with the intention to critically engage with African Literature and other readers from across Africa. The book blog soon morphed and expanded into a Book Club (Soma Nami Book Club, formerly Bookish People Book Club) to make room for more meaningful community engagement and interaction. This is when Wendy, drawing from her vast experience running one of the largest Corporate Sponsored book clubs in Kenya, joined the fold. The two, armed with a shared passion for African Literature and for building and nurturing reading communities, identified a gap in the market in terms of access to a wide range of books from the continent and they sought to address this need/gap.

The idea of starting a bookstore that can cater to the rising demand for African authored books was incubated and nurtured, and in early 2021, Soma Nami Books – the online bookstore was officially launched.

The progression to a physical space moved much quicker than the two founders had anticipated, all thanks to the support given by the reading community locally. In August 2021, we launched our book hub which not only encompasses a bookstore, but also a coffee and wine bar and a reading space to reflect the current demand for a Nairobi reader and a space that is also geared towards promoting community interaction.

Brittle Paper

What does the name Soma Nami Books come from, and where did the inspiration to open up the space come from?

Muthoni and Wendy

Soma Nami is Swahili for “read with me,” which in this case serves as an invitation to the community of readers to join in this journey of exploration into the world of books. Our passion is for the community, to engage with books and with each other. As the two founding partners are voracious readers themselves, the space was naturally designed with the reader in mind, which is why it comes complete with a seating area and a coffee and wine bar. We want readers to be able to come in and spend some time in the store as they browse the shelves, have a coffee or wine (depending on one’s preference), catch up with a friend and engage in book banter with staff and not feel rushed while at it. We also want book clubs to find a home here and for authors and other creatives to find a space for their events – book readings and signings, poetry nights, trivia nights etc.

Nurturing engaged communities is at the heart of what we do and so we are also very keen on hosting and holding forums that will invite dialogue and critical thought around a range  of issues that are present in real life, as inspired by  the books we read.

Brittle Paper

Did you face any challenges getting the project off the ground?

Muthoni and Wendy

Starting a business or any venture in the middle of a pandemic is an onerous task for anyone. We were also not spared the effects of the pandemic. Accessing credit from both suppliers and lenders has been a great challenge. Nobody is willing to take a risk on an “unknown, untried and untested” business during a pandemic, regardless of how interesting your concept and proposal sounds.  We had to find alternative ways to raise capital to get the project off the ground which involved drawing from our own personal resources and a lot of support from our families.

Accessing books from publishers has also not been a walk in the park as none of us had book trading experience. We had to do a lot of “on the job” learning in trying to find out how the market works and engage with the right publishers, distributors and agents across the UK and US. And as you can also imagine, shipping tons of books to Kenya and working out customs and duty is a whole other ball game that we had to quickly master.

Brittle Paper

What has been most memorable about the community’s response?

Muthoni and Wendy

Running a project such as this for any book lover is like a dream come true (which is what most book lovers who visit our space say), so we’ve had a lot of memorable moments.

One that stands out has been how the Kenyan reading community has rallied behind us since our inception as an online store earlier in the year. As a way of engaging the community offline, we set up a booth at pop-up spots around Nairobi, and the response from the community was overwhelming. Drawing from our interactions during these events quickly cemented our once distant plan of having a physical space and this transition moved a lot faster than we had initially planned.

The launch of the physical location in August is, however, by far the most memorable moment for us. It was fascinating to see people who had only previously met/interacted on online platforms congregate and connect. Suffice it to say, lots of friendships blossomed from this day. It was a specially proud moment for us and it reaffirmed to us that we were on the right track.

Brittle Paper

Why is Nairobi the perfect city for a book seller?

Muthoni and Wendy

Nairobi is an ideas hub, from the tech burst fondly referred to as the silicon savannah to the thriving civic space and activism. Nairobians and the country at large love to engage with technology and ideas.

Nairobi also has the most eclectic readers you will probably find in Africa. The preference in books is as varied and wide as the city is and this keeps us on our toes as book sellers. Oftentimes we encounter the reader who visits the store purely seeking out non-fiction “as that is what he/she exclusively reads” only to end up walking out with 5 works of fiction and no non-fiction. That’s the nature of a Nairobi reader and for a book seller, you have to understand your readers and make the most of this eclecticism, not just in book stock choices but also in how you merchandise the store.

Brittle Paper

Tell us about the collection.

Muthoni and Wendy

We pride ourselves in having an Africa-first approach. Contrary to what is the norm in most book stores where you find a small section, often at the back that has a few books by Africans titled “Africana” or some other othering category, our catalog is predominantly and proudly authored by Africans and the African diaspora. This is a very deliberate decision, of centering ourselves as Africans and sending a signal that our ideas, hopes, dreams, aspirations and experiences matter and are not marginal.

Our dream is to also cultivate the pan-African spirit, because while still operating as a book club and interacting with fiction from other African countries, we were always struck by the similarities of other Africans from across the continent. We hope that we will be able to illuminate this in our store and the events and forums we engage in.

Brittle Paper

For those of us who are not in Nairobi, are there ways for us to take part in the Soma Nami community?

Muthoni and Wendy

We are building a solid online community via our social media pages – on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook – that is open to all. We not only sell books but try to engage meaningfully with the wider community. We have a weekly scheduled Instagram live segment called Wine Down with Soma Nami where we both have a book banter session as we sample wine and talk about their book recommendations for the week.

We also have a vibrant book club whose meetings are a hybrid of online and in-person to accommodate people from various locations. We have had members who have joined our online sessions from Nigeria, the UK, US and even South Sudan. We hope to build this to include more countries in Africa. As a basic tenet of our book club, we read exclusively books by Africans,

We also have various topical forums that people can attend, in person or online and we will be posting them on our social media pages; primarily Instagram @somanami_ke.

Brittle Paper

One last questions: We’ve heard a lot about the portraits of African authors gracing the walls of Soma Nami Books. What was the thought behind that aspect of decorating the space?

Muthoni and Wendy

The wall was a very intentional design concept. We were creating this space for the celebration and consumption of African Literature and it was only right that we honor the great men and women who make it possible. Our “wall of fame” was our attempt to pay homage to the African authors we’d read and admired. Authors who have shaped the landscape of African Literature — from Colonial, Post Colonial and Contemporary writers. We hope to regularly change and rotate the portraits on our wall so we can honor more authors. The wall has quickly become a favorite spot for most visitors to the store and the most “instagrammable” wall yet.

Brittle Paper

Thank Muthoni and Wendy for speaking with us! We wish you both the best with the new space and ongoing book loving activities.

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Learn more about Soma Nami Books: Website