What It’s Like To … Build and Run a Pan-African Bookstore in Nairobi

What began as a personal blog has become a thriving community space, a publishing imprint, and an annual literary fair that draws thousands from across Africa. For Muiruri, though, the journey remains deeply personal.

"I started reading African books because I needed to affirm myself," she tells OkayAfrica. "Reading African stories reminded me who I was. They helped me reclaim my voice."

That search for identity sparked the creation of Soma Nami, first as a book club and eventually as a Pan-African bookstore that now stocks literature from all 54 African countries. Frustrated by the lack of access to lesser-known titles, Muiruri and her co-founder, Wendy Njoroge, set out to build something new — a space where African stories could take center stage. What followed was the creation of the African Book Fair and, more recently, a publishing imprint called Soma Nami Press.

Muiruri shares her story with OkayAfrica, in edited excerpts, reflecting on how community, persistence, and a deep love for literature turned a personal quest into a movement.

Muthoni Muiruri: This all started as a blog in 2017. I called it Soma Nami, which means "read with me" in Kiswahili. The goal was simple: chronicling my journey into reading African literature and discovering stories from the continent. I wanted others to join me. I wanted them to read with me, to see themselves in the stories, and to begin seeing the continent in a new light.

The blog grew into a book club. I started with just thirteen people who were mostly friends, and we met monthly. The book selection was always with a bias toward African literature. We would pick a country, say Libya or Cameroon, and find books from there. That's when we ran into a problem. The books were hard to find. In 2018, the bestsellers were the only African books you could get easily in Kenya. If it wasn't a known title, it just wasn't available.

A lady named Wendy Njoroge had also joined the book club. We were both trying to read widely across Africa, but couldn't find the books. So we asked ourselves: how do we fix this? If no one else will do it for us, we should. That is how Soma NamiBooks, the bookstore, was born in 2021.

We did not set out to be a feminist bookstore, but being women in this industry presented us with unique challenges. We found that we were the only women running a bookstore in Nairobi, which was shocking. And nobody was taking us seriously at the time. There were all these assumptions ...' Oh, who's funding you?' or 'You're running an NGO' ... like we weren't entrepreneurs! It took time before people understood we were not doing this as a hobby but building a real business.

We decided to build a space where the entire continent was represented in books. We created a project we called "Road to 54." The idea was to collect books from all 54 African countries. It became this exciting challenge. And it was tough.

The African publishing industry is complicated. First, there's the language divide — Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone — and so many books are not translated. Kenya is an Anglophone country, so bringing books from Francophone Africa or Portuguese-speaking countries like Mozambique or Guinea-Bissau became difficult. There was also the issue of logistics. Honestly, it was easier to get books from London or the US than from Cameroon or the DR Congo. It's wild, but that's the reality.

Still, we didn't shy away. We connected with publishers, translators, and other bookstores and just kept going. Slowly, we built a catalog. And at the beginning of 2023, we hit the 54th country. We had books from every African country in that small space in Greenhouse Mall. We wanted to mark that moment; that's when the idea of a book fair began to take root. It would be a book fair entirely focused on African books. We kept the name simple: the African Book Fair.

We had no sponsors, no media partners, and no real budget. But we had a community. We'd built one from our book club days, from the blog, from the bookstore, from readers who followed us on social media. We leaned into that community and said, "We're doing this." And they showed up!"

The first fair happened at McMillan Library. That venue was intentional; it has a history. During colonial times, it was a space that Africans weren't allowed to enter. We wanted to reclaim that, so we filled it with African books.

On the first day, we expected a few hundred people. Over the five days, we welcomed over 5,000. The library staff was shocked. They had to bring in more staff to manage the crowd. They told us it was the most people they had ever seen in that building. People came from all over - Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa. It was a big moment. It showed a hunger for African stories and that people want to see themselves.

For the second edition of the Book Fair last year, we took the feedback into account. Attendees wanted more than just books; they wanted to hear from authors, attend panels, and enjoy poetry and performances. So, we added a festival component. It became a hybrid: a book fair and a literary festival. We had to cancel one day because it coincided with the Gen Z protests. Still, we attracted approximately 5,000 people. This year, we plan to move to a larger venue to reach 10,000 attendees. Alongside the fair, we've expanded in other ways. We opened a new store location in Ngara. It is a much larger space where the community can gather. We really pride ourselves on our catalog. You're unlikely to find certain books we have in many bookstores, not only in Nairobi but even in other places.

We've also launched Soma Nami Press in response to a significant gap we noticed in the publishing industry. Kenya is home to many talented writers, but the support for publishing is limited. As a result, many writers have turned to self-publishing. While this option is empowering, the quality control can often be inconsistent.

Every day, we receive at least ten requests from self-published authors asking us to stock their books. While some works are outstanding, others require editing, better production, and more robust story development. Recognizing this need, we decided to step in. Soma Nami Press is our way of offering guidance, support, and quality publishing to Kenyan authors whose work deserves to be seen beyond our borders.

I started reading African literature because I needed to affirm myself. I had just started working in an international organization. Issues of race, identity, and power were hitting me hard. I was in my early twenties, and I felt small, like I didn't belong. Reading African stories reminded me of who I was. They helped me reclaim my voice.

Representation matters. The "danger of a single story," as Chimamanda says, is real. I grew up reading Western stories. My childhood writing was about things I had never seen. But when I found African books, I found myself. I found my home, and I want that for others.