Ugandan publisher and blog Sooo Many Stories have unveiled their new BookTube channel, on YouTube, they call #MeIRead.
Sooo Many Stories was started as a blog by Kampala-based Nyana Kakoma in 2014 to shine a light on the Ugandan writing scene. It was unapologetically Ugandan.
“This is the reason for this blog. To show you our literature. To remind everyone that we are here, we are writing, we are reading and we have sooo many stories to tell,” Nyana states on her blog.
Two years later, Sooo Many Stories would change its focus from just a blog and convert into a fully-fledged publishing house. She published two books The Headline That Morning by Peter Kagayi quickly followed by Flame and Song a memoir by Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa.
The company has been running many other initiatives to change the attitudes of Ugandans to reading starting from the children to adults. One of these was #MEiREAD which was the concept for a place where folks would meet after work with like-minded people and discuss books of their preference. The first chapter was in Bugolobi at The Village Mall and in 2017, Kahwa2Go opened their doors to the young company to host its Ntinda chapter.
The team at Sooo Many Stories has decided to go one further with #MeIREAD by taking the message online with a YouTube channel or as the book people like calling them, a BookTube. The channel kicks off officially with Carol Kagezi, Dushiime Kaguliro, and Esi Nshakira chatting about the juggernaut that is Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo. The three give an insightful analysis of the book from all the angles that you can imagine. I was especially impressed by Kagezi who really seemed to be in tune with the source material. You can watch the episode below. If you have not read the book do NOT, for the love of God, click on that link. Their discussion is filled with spoilers.
We are not sure how often the channel will be updated but this is a good beginning.
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