STORYMOJA

The Storymoja Book clubs are forums where young professionals can come together and discuss books and various themes raised in them. The club is open to young professionals and its forum for them to interact and share their views and opinions on the various books they have read.

Books are seen largely as ‘boring’ and ‘not fun’, an attitude birthed by our education system that discourages people from reading apart from when they have exams to pass or assignments to finish. This could largely be also a product of our oral tradition.

The idea to create a book club hence stems from the need to create a customer base while at the same time giving books and reading a social face which many Kenyans identify with. This would help not only in securing the current base but also in expanding it.

The book clubs are meant to give a ’social face’ to books and hopefully then get more and more people interested in reading or those who already read, to read more widely.

Members pay an annual membership fee of Kshs 1000

There are three book clubs namely:

• Storymoja Book club-Fiction and Biographies book club
• Storymoja Business Club – Business book club
• Story hippo Club – Children book club

Benefits to Storymoja Book Club Members

• 20% Discounts for books in Nakumatt Ukay,Mega,Nyali and Embakasi bookshops
• 10% off food and drinks courtesy of Books first, Sherlock’s Den and Storymoja
• Networking
• Sharing/discussion of books for book lovers
• Free entrance to thrilling and informative Storymoja events
• Regular updates on upcoming events

Profiles of the leaders (mentors, consultants and facilitators in the program)

• In the last book club we featured top lawyer and parliamentary candidate Dr. PLO Lumumba.
  Dr. P.L.O- Lumumba is an Advocate of the High Courts of Kenya and Tanzania and Law Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi.

  He is one of the Trustees and the Executive Director of the African Institute of Leaders and Leadership, Nairobi, Kenya. He received his LL.B and LL.M Degrees in Law at the University of Nairobi, followed by a PhD in the Laws of the Sea at the University of Ghent in Belgium.

• In the next book club, we hope to feature Nobel laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai in the review of the book ‘Unbowed’
• We also will feature management consultant and columnist Sunny Bindra in the review of his book Crown Your Customer at the Business Club.

Schedule of the Storymoja Book clubs

• Storymoja Book club (first Monday of each month) – 7th of July 2008 at Books first Lifestyle 6pm-8pm
• Storymoja Business Club (third Tuesday of every month) – 15th of July 2008 at Books First Lifestyle 6pm-8pm
• Story hippo Club – 10th of August 2008 at the Nyama Choma Fiesta (launch) and then on second Sundays of every month at Books First Mega between 2pm and 4pm

Why people should join the Storymoja book club

• Book clubs bring the ‘social aspect’ to books. While books tend to have a loner aspect in that it’s a person engaged with a book, book clubs allow a reader to share his/her thoughts, emotions and opinions with other readers and thus feed into our storytelling oral traditions that is so evident in other forums where Kenyans interact such as in pubs and weddings.
• Book clubs will act as an excellent forum for upper/middle class Kenyans especially in the 25-40 year age bracket to interact and network.
• Book clubs require that members buy and read the books mentioned or to be reviewed thus improving the reading culture in Kenya.