A novelist and publisher passionate about history and literature came together to restore a historic library in downtown Nairobi–a new documentary follows their journey, grappling with colonial legacies and a postcolonial future.

Directed and produced by Nairobi-based husband-wife filmmaking team Maia Lekow and Christopher King, How to Build a Library celebrated its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, which recently wrapped up in Utah, USA.

In 2018, novelist Shiro Koinange and publisher Angela Wachuka made the bold decision to leave their careers behind and take on a monumental project: restoring the McMillan Memorial Library in downtown Nairobi. With little-to-no experience in architecture or building restoration, the pair began a project to revive the library. The documentary takes audiences on a journey through the restoration of McMillan, exploring the emotional and political complexities of reviving a colonial-era institution.

Built in 1932, the McMillan Library was a symbol of colonial exclusion, originally reserved for white settlers, out of reach for African communities until Kenya’s independence in the 1960s, and considered irrelevant to the present-day needs of the country’s population. Shiro and Wachuka lobbied city officials and successfully took over the management of the neglected space, launching Book Bunk with the aim of turning McMillan into a space that reflected contemporary values.

The filmmakers Lekow and King had met Wachuka and Shiro earlier through mutual creative circles, and jumped at the opportunity to document their new undertaking. Lekow reflects,

We knew we needed to film for ourselves after we saw the state of the library and all of these things that were being unearthed as they were going through it.

How to Build a Library is as much about the personal journeys of its protagonists as it is about the socio-political landscape they navigate. The filmmakers craft a portrait of two women who not only face the challenge of restoring a building, but must also reckon with the grip of colonial structures that continue to govern how knowledge is produced, categorized, and consumed. The documentary captures the moral ambiguity of their situation with compassionate attention. As the pair works their way through the labyrinthine world of government officials and wealthy donors, their commitment to a more inclusive, decolonized space becomes increasingly entangled with the realities of political opportunism and the capitalist structures they set out to resist.

Koinange and Wachuka’s project highlights the challenges faced by a new generation in Kenya—one that must reconcile the country’s colonial legacy with the need to build a future that honors its rich cultural heritage. How to Build a Library delves into the post-colonial identity crisis facing Kenyans today, asking the question: how do we deal with a colonial past?

The filmmakers King and Lekow hope that their documentary brings about tangible change in supporting Shiro and Wachuka’s Book Bunk project, and others like it. When asked about the impact of their film, Lekow shares,

Number one is for Wachuka and Shiro to be able to realize their dream of being able to renovate and restore and build the library that I think so many of us here would benefit from. But I also think it will be interesting to train and figure out how we can start having conversations with UK Parliament, and same in the U.S. I think the whole conversation around race and Black Lives Matter and the book banning, of course. So we do feel that through the impact campaign that we’re starting to put together, there will be a lot of education.

King adds,

We see the story hopefully being a blueprint for Kenya and the wider Africa. There’s so many young visionary people with ideas and energy, and they’re coming against systems that aren’t really open to change. And so if the film can just help move the needle and give people that kind of hope and inspiration to bring these types of changes in their own communities, then that’s really what we want. And our outreach and discussions around the film will hopefully help trigger that.

Congratulations to the whole team behind this ambitious project! The Sundance world premiere of the film was attended by Maia Lekow, Chris King, Angela Wachuka, Wanjiru Koinange, Syokau Mutonga, Roger Ross Williams, Geoff Martz, Judy Kibinge, Ricardo Acosta, Mehret Mandefro,Katya Mihailova, Susan Mbogo, Kati Davenport Mascarenhas, DD Wigley, Theresa Navarro, Wanuri Kahiu, Idil Aibrahim.

Check out photos from the event below (by Kibwe Tavares):