Last week Wednesday, my friend and sister from another mother Sarah Ozo-Irabor of Books and Rhymes podcast had her weekly live Instagram session Literary Ancestry and the topic for the evening is what sparked this post. Friendship and Sisterhood in writings by Women of African Descent.
The above picture is a book haul from months ago, which finally made it into my hands last week. Courtesy of my own community of bookish friends and sisters. We have held each other down for the past year of change and uncertainty.
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We have been collecting books from book sales; from commercial stores to our favourite pre-loved bookstores to pop-up stores. This stash has stories for days, and it finally made it to me last week after a couple of months of interesting logistics. From some books being with one friend for months awaiting another book from a pre-loved store in another city, to being driven around while we try to coordinate our schedules in between working from home.
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Our sisterhood is fun and crazy. We gift each other books, we source books for one another, go through logistics gymnastics to get the books to each other, we remind each other of book sales, we are welcoming of one another, we exchange books and money to get more books, we skinner aka gossip, we remind each other of online book events. Some are silent but they’re there, nonetheless and we don’t give them pressure to say anything because life happens and that’s okay. We laugh, we get frustrated with authors/characters, we congratulate one another for our wins, hype each other up, support one another when life gives us sad moments we can talk about, and most importantly – we share a genuine collective love for books. Some of us, have never even met yet… But the love is there.
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We, are readers. A reading group. Untitled. Sisterhood.
List of books on the picture as they appear from top to bottom:
- Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta
- Silver Sparrow – Tayari Jones
- Radiance of Tomorrow – Ishmael Beah
- Bone Meal for Roses – Miranda Sherry
- The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
- Bird Summons – Leila Aboulela
Parts of this post first appeared on an Instagram post here.
