Hunger for reading!

DPA

Donald Trump costs just 3 dollars, complete with a film of street dust that comes with every book
purchased at Norman Maina’s
stall tucked between a supermarket and a
bus stop.
Displayed on metal mesh a few centimetres off the ground, Maina’s second-hand book range includes Robert Ludlum thrillers and the success stories of the new US president or ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
And don’t overlook the romance novels, which are so popular that customers buy them bagged by the hundred for 15 euros.
“A person must understand the world,” the 42-year-old says of the seemingly insatiable hunger of Kenyans for new literary fare, both in the original English or in Swahili, or Kiswahili as it’s known here.
It’s another reason the pavements in the bustling capital Nairobi are so crowded, as the book stalls are multiplying with the east African country’s reading habits. People now read far more than 10 years ago, and perhaps more than in neighbouring countries, which also have seen a marked rise in literacy rates.
The continent has struggled in the past to bring the written word to its masses. But data released by Unesco shows a more hopeful picture now. In 1990, 47 per cent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa was illiterate, while today the rate is down to 38 per cent, thanks to improved access to schooling for the younger generation.
In Kenya, almost four out of five people over 15 can read and write, making for a bright future for the stalls that dot the city. They are known as inama bookstores, coming from the word “inama” or “bending down” in Kiswahili, referring to the physical effort of browsing the pavement-level titles.
Books are available here for a fraction of the price in commercial bookstores. Maina’s bestselling novels cost around 90 cents to 3.50 euros and he shifts about 35 a day penned by the likes of Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon and Danielle Steele.
Three quarters of his customers are women, Maina says, a sales trend confirmed by his colleague Francis Mbinda at his stall a few streets further. “Romance novels sell best,” Mbinda says, but adding that you can bulk buy sacks of titles in most genres now.
Wendy Njoroge from Kenya’s largest stationery and bookstore chain, Textbook Centre, says the company has taken the reading
passion one step further at the urging of its customers and now hosts a monthly book-reading club. The club has around 60 male and female participants, including journalists, bloggers, and small business owners who want to not just read a book but discuss its themes with others.
“I have not fully enjoyed a book if I do not share this experience with like-minded people,” says 23-year-old Brian Njagi, an advertising expert and member of the book club. “This is part of our culture in Kenya.”
October’s reading choice, “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi, was sold out long before the club meeting,” says Njoroge. “We had ordered 80 copies, that’s a lot for a title. We did not expect so much demand.”
Contemporary African literature or books about Africa like the bestseller by Gyasi, who was born in Ghana and raised in the United States, ensure lively discussions about racism, colonial heritage and African identity.
But while the street stalls thrive, Kenya’s literary boom is happening as much or even more online. WhatsApp and Facebook run active discussions of titles, or are where people go for recommendations of books and inamas with the best deals, and to exchange e-books.
Five years ago, bookclub member Njagi and some friends founded the literary blog “Storyzetu,” which can be loosely translated as “our story.”
There are also two respected online literary magazines where Africans have the opportunity to tell their own stories.
Publishers in Kenya that used to publish almost nothing but textbooks increasingly offer children’s books in both English and Swahili .. including in e-book format. However, there are no reliable figures for sales or use of e-books. A customer at Maina’s stall passes him a bank note for the four new novels he has chosen and shakes his head as if in reproach.
“I’ve got to stop buying books,” he
murmurs. “When will I get round to reading them all?”