Public libraries in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, had been depleted and neglected for decades, until two creative entrepreneurs decided to bring them back to life. Angela Wachuka and Wanjiru Koinange, who initially met in 2012, had been dabbling with the idea of restoring public spaces in the city, and founded Book Bunk in 2017 to do just that. Four years later, the pair have restored two branches of the iconic McMillan Memorial library – Kaloneni Library and Eastlands Library in Makadara – and are on course to start working on the main branch. The charitable trust also created a digital archive, storing around 24,000 heritage materials dating as far back as the 1800s, for ease of access and to prevent further damage. In 2020, they established a publishing outfit centring African stories called Bunk Books. Wachuka and Koinange speak to AMAKA about the evolution of Book Bunk, and what it means to see Nairobi’s history through the lens of the community.
History books are notoriously written through the gaze of the white man and often don’t reflect the true story of Africa, its people, or their experiences. Although this has meant that stories from the continent were erased from mainstream literature, these tales lived on orally through word of mouth from generation to generation for centuries.
While this may have sufficed for a time, it wasn’t enough for Wachuka and Koinange, who founded Book Bunk to reclaim, restore and revitalise Nairobi’s heritage library spaces for inclusive use. In 2018, Book Bunk agreed a milestone partnership with Nairobi City County to drive the restoration efforts and resource mobilisation for the libraries. A year later in 2019, it created the first-ever digital catalogue of manuscripts, photographs, letters, journals and other materials with the support of the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund and in collaboration with Africa Digital Heritage and the Built Environment Surveyors & Infrastructure Consultancy Group. And has since successfully completed two restoration projects in 2020 and is currently fundraising for the mothership — the McMillan Memorial library.
With projects of this magnitude, trials and tribulations can be expected, but the entrepreneurs say their experience working with communities, their backgrounds, editorial expertise and industry network has helped them sustain the program and raise funds. Book Bunk has established several collaborations and partnerships since its formation, including Sharjah World Book Capital, the Sigrid Rausing Trust and Glasgow Women’s library. Additionally, it provides educational tours of the main McMillan library and its two revived branches via Airbnb, using all proceeds for library restoration work.
The importance of decolonising literary spaces
It’s no secret that Europe’s colonial legacy and the scramble for Africa has had a devastating lifestyle, cultural and religious impact on African countries and territories. One of the world’s most diverse continents, Africa is home to various cultures, ethnic groups, and linguistic diversity. The implications of British rule in Kenya are hard to understand without first unravelling the stories omitted from its books. “There’s always a need for libraries and literature but while Nairobi residents were using the spaces, they were not touching the books,” Koinange says. One such space is the iconic McMillan Memorial library — Nairobi’s oldest library and Kenya’s second oldest library. Established in 1931, it is the only building in the East African country that is protected by an Act of Parliament and was limited to use by Europeans only, in its first 30 years, opening to the general public in 1962 after being bequeathed to the Nairobi City Council. “When Nairobians look at it they see decisions made without their input, so the collection doesn’t fit, which explains the depletion,” Koinange adds.
The devastation of the McMillan Memorial Library was the motivation for the formation of Book Bunk for Wachuka, who works in publishing and was the executive director of leading literary organisation, Kwani Trust. “It’s intriguing that it remained in this state for almost 90 years, and no one saw the problem this represented for Nairobi,” she says. Meanwhile, Koinange, a writer and published author, was inspired by a combination of factors, including a story she published about McMillan Memorial Library’s chief librarian Jacob Ananda. “As a writer it was heartbreaking to see that the thing I want to do with my life would end up in an old and dusty building that everyone has forgotten about.”
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Book Bunk’s mission and vision
Before each restoration began, Book Bunk researched and worked with communities and librarians to figure out why people visit the library and what they wanted to see in the future. According to Wachuka and Koinange, accessibility was a key factor—from wifi to installing toilets to longer opening hours. Another vital aspect was the arts; supporting artists by providing access to public spaces. It was important to create an environment that caters to all. To achieve this, Book Bunk had public callouts specifically targeting artists, including those who organise storytelling sessions, are launching books or showing films—providing them with space, admin and marketing support.
Every aspect of the restoration process is both fulfilling and a learning curve for the founders. “These aren’t just libraries, these spaces are homes of culture and art for the city and its residents,” Wachuka says. “It’s important to learn the history of Nairobi, its layout, where we come from and re-internalise that to see what it means for the provision of public spaces.” According to Koinange, the Eastlands Library restoration was especially fulfilling. “It was our biggest project to date, even bigger than the main branch because it was a complete canvas as it’s not a listed building, we had complete creative range in every aspect.”
Book Bunk’s next step is overcoming the challenges of digital access as the transition to online programming proved difficult amid COVID measures. “We surveyed communities and worked with local partners to physically supply around 200 households initially with reading materials and sanitation products and provided the same for around 1500 homes on our second site.” Despite the obstacles Wachuka notes that some digital events have been well received, highlighting the success of Book Bunk’s first virtual annual gala in 2020. Koinange adds they will continue a hybrid model in the future as the digital gala helped to open them up to international audiences.
While the pair don’t rule out branching outside libraries, their sweet spot for now are public spaces with library elements that have cultural relevance. “It’s easy to forget about libraries in this day and age, but it’s our desire to see these spaces prioritise African voices, books, art and creativity in every aspect,” they both say. Book Bunk’s main vision is to “put money in artists hands” and support them so that the renovated spaces survive economically in the long term. This is done by providing performance opportunities, buying art to display and creating jobs. “We want these spaces to be able to generate money for the libraries and not depend on things like grants or public funding.”
"These aren’t just libraries, these spaces are homes of culture and art for the city and its residents"
The renovation process
Book Bunk’s approach to restoration falls into four categories: experiential, social, architectural and digital.
On the experiential front, Book Bunk seeks to transform the way people interact with libraries. “Allocated spaces in the city are rarely used for what they are intended for, we want to bring them back into the realm of the public,” Wachuka says. Book Bunk believes these spaces can provide a continuation of academic and literary pursuits for the young and old alike. To ensure this, it plans to host events and provide accessible programmes that celebrate art, wellbeing and learning, and are free from political and religious agendas.
Socially, Book Bunk aims to build “palaces for the people” to create an inclusive and safe public environment, providing tax education, legal advice and networking space.
Architecturally, the trust not only facilitates physical restoration, but also works to ensure that those living near the libraries are the primary beneficiaries of the projects. One such benefit is Book Bunk’s “traffic o-clock” reprieve. “Nairobi’s traffic is notorious, so the system allows us to keep the library open for longer, closing at 8pm instead of 5pm — giving the people enough time to escape the traffic and use the services,” Wachuka says. Locals also benefit from a socio-economic perspective as Book Bunk employs residents to work in the restored libraries, cafes and partners with a contractor who employs them for the construction.
To support its digital efforts and showcase the history of Nairobi, the pair dusted off and gave new life to neglected archives housed at the McMillan Memorial Library. Working alongside a dedicated team, who spent months cataloguing 24,000 archives, it built a digital platform that stores a fraction of a wider collection consisting of newspapers, magazines, periodicals and glass plate negatives for generations to come. It also provides digital skills training for both library users and librarians.
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Centering African experiences
Decolonising literary spaces goes beyond physical restoration, and Book Bunk has created a publishing outfit to highlight African voices. Bunk Books focuses on the production of contemporary stories in digital and print editions for children and adults through new art and writing.
The outfit has published several African writers, including the debut novel of Book Bunk co-founder Koinange, The Havoc of Choice, which explores the events surrounding the 2007 Kenyan general election. It also translated into three languages and published Sulwe — a moving picture book about colourism and self-esteem, written by Academy Award-winning actress and New York Times best-selling author Lupita Nyong’o.