When you tune in to Nairobi Book Love: The Podcast, you might notice that the song playing on the intro and outro is Kenyan singer Mayonde’s hit song “Nairobi.” According to this podcast’s creator, Kui Kabala, this is a fitting theme song due to how the podcast began.
Back in 2019, Kui was struggling with juggling the various spheres of her life including her work as a radio presenter, motherhood, and self-quality time. As a result, she stopped pursuing one of her favourite pastimes which was reading books. She wanted to regain her rhythm in this area and, as a way of holding herself accountable, began a book club called Nairobi Book Love. The club, which comprised of book lovers residing in Nairobi, helped Kui discover new books and learn more about her city by interacting with its other residents.
The first Nairobi Book Love read was Dance of the Jakaranda, and the book club discussion was graced by the author, Peter Kimani. Kui enjoyed this conversation and briefly thought about starting a podcast that would feature subsequent discussions held by members of her book club. Unable to take on new commitments, she decided to hold off on executing this idea.
One of the very few positives of the COVID-19 pandemic was that it forced many people to slow down, take stock and find new media of channeling their creativity. With a bit more time on her hands, Kui finally decided to start her podcast.
Her experience as a radio presenter helped her with creating a program design, but she still needed pointers on how to record the episodes. The first recording Kui did turned out poorly since the audio of the Zoom call was not the best quality. For an answer to this question, she reached out to G-Money, fellow radio presenter and podcaster on The Mics Are Open. This led to the podcast’s first episode featuring G-Money in a conversation about The Book That Changed Radio in Kenya. To date, this remains the most popular episode aired on Nairobi Book Love: The Podcast.
Before launching this platform, Kui wanted to have an intro that would directly pay homage to her book club and her city. The only song that reflected this sentiment was “Nairobi”. Kui reached out to Mayonde and requested the use of her music as the theme song, to which Mayonde agreed. To Kui, this song has now become synonymous with her book club as well as her podcast. Every episode begins by reminding listeners of the wonder that is Nairobi, before Kui plunges into a conversation about a book she has read with her book club. In its first season, Nairobi Book Love: The Podcast has hosted several authors including Kinyanjui Kombani, Bianca Marais, and Wanjiru Koinange. In the second season, Kui hopes to keep such conversations going as she continues to share the perspectives of Nairobi residents on different books.
Join in on the fun of book discussions by listening to the podcast from this book club.