by Nwosu Precious

In recent years, a growing number of people, including those from African countries, have been emigrating for better academic opportunities, employment, healthcare, and overall improvement in lifestyle. These individuals often travel alone and as a result, feelings of loneliness and desolation creep in. Black migrants often encounter challenges in white-dominated societies.

Thus, they search for groups of people with common interests, platforms to express their ideas and beliefs, and judgement-free spaces.

Cynthia Okechukwu, a book nerd and attorney in Chicago, found her community in 2015 through Well-Read Black Girl, a book club based in New York City. This community helped her feel seen, and to give back to others, she founded Black Girls Read Chicago— a book club for Black women which hosts online and offline meetings every last Sunday of the month. Okechukwu spoke with AMAKA Studio and gave more insights into how she is helping Black women find peace with books.

Tell us about yourself. Where were you raised?

My family is from a region of Nigeria close to Lagos. However, when I was around a year old, we immigrated to the United States, where I spent much of my early life in Michigan, near Detroit. Before settling in Michigan for most of my school years, we briefly resided in Colorado and Ohio among other places. It was a good childhood. I spent a lot of time playing with my siblings and helping to look after the younger ones as I was the second of five.

What were books like for you while growing up and what courses did you study in school?

I read pretty much everything I could get my hands on: my parents' medical textbooks, my mum’s books by Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, Little House on the Prairie, and all the classic British novels like A Secret Garden. I like interesting stories and discovering new things. My college major was history. It wasn't technically literature, but the main focus was discovering and sharing original stories.

What motivated you to create the book club?

College was where I learned to articulate some of the microaggressions or feelings of otherness I experienced as a black woman. I’d always experienced those things but didn’t have words for them until I took African American studies and sociology classes. They helped me put words to the experiences and concepts I already knew. Being surrounded by other black students with similar experiences within the majority-white institution felt transformative.

For me, the book club was a way of doing something similar. I’d been part of other book clubs, but they tended to have mostly white members. I didn’t feel 100% comfortable discussing works by Black authors in those sorts of spaces with people who didn’t necessarily have experiences with racism, colourism, and other issues that were often part of those books.

It was exciting to find a community of black women at Well Read Black Girls who were as tired as I was. We were tired of being told that books by and about black women couldn’t be classics, universal, and important.

Tell us More about Black Girls Read

Black Girls Read Book Club Chicago was my way of doing something similar on a more personal, local level. I moved to Chicago in 2013 and didn’t yet have a strong community here, so I decided to build one of my own with inspiration from WRBG.

I was surprised by how easy it was to start. Setting up the meetup group was easy, and then it just came down to figuring out the book each month and finding a location to meet.

How has Black Girls Read helped Black women from foreign countries combat loneliness?

We’ve had a few immigrant women or visitors here for school or work join us for discussions. I think they have found the group something similar to what the other women in the group have found: a space where others see them in their full humanity. They can see it reflected in the books they read. Engaging in conversation with women with diverse perspectives who have in common navigating the world as black women is an excellent cure for loneliness.

How were you able to get your offline and online members?

I think most of our online and offline members found us on Meetup.com and found the Instagram page. I haven’t focused much on marketing the book club. I’m pretty content with people finding us however that happens.

Do you think your club can get any bigger?

I think it could with some effort on my part, but I like that it is smaller and more intimate. It works well for discussions and forming genuine connections. Also, this is a hobby for me, not my full-time job, so selfishly, I'm not sure I’d want it to get much bigger.

Have any authors graced your meetings?

We have had lots of authors join us over the years. Catherine Adel West joined us most recently and it was so fun. We‘ve also been lucky to have Diamond Sharp, Naima Coster, Emily Bernard, Dawn Turner, and Nancy Johnson. They've all been so warm and open and generous with their time. I’m so grateful to them.

Any regrets? What's the best part of starting a book club?

No regrets about starting it. I’d like to end it on my terms at the right time. But that won’t be any time soon.

The best part is meeting amazing women from across the country and around the world. The book club members pour into me with every conversation. Talking with them is truly one of the highlights of every month.

Can you say that the book club is achieving the goals and aims you created it for?

It is. I never had any concrete metrics that I was measuring. It was always about connections and conversation. We’ve built a great community.

Any favourites from the books you have reviewed?

Probably Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which we read earlier on.