Kenya, Nairobi, McMillan Memorial Library, the oldest library in Nairobi. Opened in 1931 and built by the wife of Englishman William McMillan in tribute to him, with British books and only for “whites” until sometime in the sixties Africans are allowed access to this monumental building of a library and its collections. It’s been run by the County but the state of its collection and interior is underwhelming and deteriorated over the years.

Two women, one a writer (Shiro), the other a publisher (Wachuka), take it upon themselves – with no experience but with big dreams – to revitalise the McMillan Library and its two branches in Kaloleni and Makadara. Their project Book Bunk, a grand plan in need of money, helpers and political support, was filmed over six years (from 2017) and presented as How to build a library at the recent New Zealand DocEdge Festival.

Book Bunk raises plenty of post-colonial questions in search of Kenyan identity in the McMillan Library collections which, Shiro and Wachuka discover, do not represent their communities well. And Book Bunk grows into something much bigger: connecting and reaching communities through literature, arts, music, play, dance.

Discover an amazing dream of Titanic proportions coming true on www.bookbunk.org