Rewriting Libraries: Challenging the past in Kenya

In Nairobi, Kenya, Wanjiru Koinange and her co-founder of Book Bunk, Angela Wachuka, are dedicated to restoring and transforming some of the city’s oldest public libraries, which date back to colonial times – and attitudes.

Working together with the city council, and engaging the public directly, they ensure these libraries and their contents reflect today’s Kenyans and make way for future readers.

They do not want to erase the past – not even those who tried to erase Africans from their own history – and instead choose to confront colonial views through public engagement. At the same time, they concentrate on including books by Africans rather than about them, to support multiple versions of Kenyan history that go beyond the previously dominant colonial perspective.

Rahab Wambui is an independent Kenyan filmmaker who has made several short and feature-length documentaries. She has also worked in television as a series producer and documentary commissioner for many years and made Conservation From Above for Africa Direct.