137
Or, The Year of the Kiwaru*
Hi! Thanks for reading this newsletter. A click of the ♡ button makes a difference. You can also share excerpts on social media, forward it to someone who might enjoy the vibes, or text it to a friend.
Pinning this because it’s 🎉birthday week 🎉
My birthday wishlist, now an annual tradition, is out! You can find it here and any and all gifts will be appreciated 🙂
(I’m also open to surprises; as long as it’s not a surprise party.)
Reader,
While I’ve been away from Nairobi, and before I start one in the village, I have not sat with a book club in ages. Not something as loosely organised as the Silent Book Club or as structured as Noname Book Club (which met yesterday to discuss Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga) and I’m panting for one like a deer pants for water. This feeling of wishing I was with other readers was heightened over the weekend when Uncle Mamdani Prof. Mahmood Mamdani was on the Nairobi leg of his tour for his latest book, Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State.
A short aside about this tour: the Mombasa leg happened the weekend before I went down to the city and this one happened after my move. Would I have gone to the event? Maybe Definitely, as a person interested in postcolonial Africa and Mamdani’s work. So I did the next best thing: I put the e-book on hold at the library. Now I wait (there will be annotations).
Back to book clubs. I have been reading with folks in various Discord servers but our geographic spread means we’ll never be in the same room, even virtually. I have realised that being in the city meant I neglected my lone virtual book club but no more. Partly because I want to be back in book community, mostly because of the January selection — Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown.
I am (in)famously not a re-reader (WE KNOW, MAIKO!) but every time I re-read I am reminded how of rich texts are. When last I read Rubyfruit Jungle, I was a wee lad (it was 3 years ago). Then, I listened to it. This time, I read it with my eyeballs and my ears and what mine eyes have seen… Miss Brown didn’t hold back on the slurs and, as I was thinking about the book today, I was reminded of a lecture by Nell Irvin Painter titled What Can ‘The History of White People’ Teach Us About Race in America? in which she dissects whiteness in the American context. I mean, nobody was left unscathed and it was jarring to read the book’s original language. The way I can’t wait to talk about it with other folks in the club - some of whom love this queer classic - is a feeling I’d missed.
I’ve been thinking about the work of community as well as what power there is in desire (or envy, or jealousy, sometimes they look the same) and I’m hoping to alchemise how much I miss literary spaces in Nairobi into creating those spaces where I am. Maybe a book club, maybe a club where we read short stories (as I have started doing with Mama Mike), maybe a Silent Book Club chapter. I’ll keep you posted if and/or when I make something of this feeling. This feeling must be made into something!!!
If you have started a reading group in a rural area (I go to church, I intend to recruit there and not for a Bible-focused reading group) and have tips & tricks advice, please reach out. I’m serious!!!
(Next up: A film club. Might pitch it as an extra-curricular for kids on the Social Sciences pathway. Watch this space.)
If you’re wondering how to support me during in the days ahead:
Money goes a long way so feel free to send M-PESA or USD via PayPal (paypal.me/cmutanyi)
Send opportunities my way (I can do run your communications effort, research, write reviews, write copy and much more besides; just shoot me an email - 100onbooks@proton.me)
If you’ve made a move like this, please tell me what you found helped the most with your transition
Send reading and watching recommendations (better yet, share a library card!)
Imagine what you’d like in this situation, and do it for me (this has yielded interesting results in my experience)
Take good care of yourself and each other and thanks for taking the time to read this far xx
Quick news/ things that may be of interest:
Treat someone you like (me, for instance, I have a Switch) to the Tiny Bookshop Game (which is also on Discord)
Subscribe to my WhatsApp channel for texts I find while I spend time online
Film folks: Solidarity Cinema, for your consideration
If you’re in the Global North and would be open to engaging in the North-South solidarity that is sharing a library card, please email or message me so we can figure things out. Thank you!
The Queer Liberation Library 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️, which is free to join here
Digital Library of Korean Literature, which is free to join here
Film folks: Check out the Japan Foundation’s JFF Theater online streaming platform
How to Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the visually impaired
Links to Reading Lists, Free Books, Book Recs, Book-related Items, and Calls for Submissions in this document (most recent links at the top)
Since Elon seems to want (some of) us gone, I’m trying to post more often on Bluesky. Follow me there if you’re on it!
You can send me books, postcards, letters, and assorted items via PO Box 102439, Jamia Posta 00101, Nairobi, Kenya (I write back!)
I have finished four books since I last wrote to you: Special Topics in Being a Human: A Queer and Tender Guide to Things I’ve Learned the Hard Way about Caring for People, Including Myself by S. Bear Bergman; illustrated by Saul Freedman-Lawson (e-book), The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume; illustrated by Debbie Ohi (e-book and audiobook narrated by Laura Hamilton), Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown (e-book and audiobook narrated by Anna Paquin) and La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono; translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel. I’m primarily using Storygraph now (passively updating Goodreads as I read most e-books on Kindle via the library) and I hope to get back to making videos soon.
As ever, please write back to me and tell me what books you’re reading or looking forward to reading — it’s always a great time talking about books.\
Thank you for reading 🙂
If you have enjoyed this newsletter and want to support my writing, you can:
Share an excerpt of this newsletter on social media, tap that ♡ button, & tell someone to subscribe
Send me a gift off my wishlist
Send me job ads (communications, research, digital policy & arts positions especially)
Send me opportunities for art makers e.g. residencies, grants etc.
Forward this newsletter to a friend you think would enjoy it
PayPal me a one-time gift at @cmutanyi
Hire me to write for you or do cultural work (moderate, interview, make a podcast)
Enjoy the week ahead and have a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!
*A catch in the throat due to envy (or is it jealousy?). “Kiwaru” literally translates to “a big potato”
Curious to see how this works out - ...I intend to recruit there and not for a Bible-focused reading group.' Please tell us what you read with them.
(wow, i was thinking about you this evening; so glad to have received this episode of the newsletter!
also, as one who has made a Nairobi-to-Small-Town move, congratulations on yours! let me start getting my notes together for you.
also also, happy birthday!!)