by Tim Gordon
In a world where stories of reclamation and resilience rarely receive the spotlight they deserve, How to Build a Library stands out as an uplifting testament to the power of community, history, and two women’s unwavering belief that libraries can shape a nation’s future.
How to Build a Library is a quietly stirring and beautifully observed 2025 Kenyan-American documentary directed and produced by Maia Lekow and Christopher King. The film chronicles the inspiring journey of Shiro Koinange and Angela Wachuka, two visionaries who quit their day jobs to launch Book Bunk, a non-profit dedicated to restoring Nairobi’s iconic McMillan Memorial Library.
What starts as a restoration project quickly reveals itself to be something far deeper: a radical act of reclaiming public spaces and rewriting Kenya’s relationship with its colonial past. Through patient storytelling and vivid imagery, Lekow and King capture the laborious, often frustrating dance with local politics, bureaucracy, and the ghosts of history that still linger in the library’s worn-out walls.
Executive producer Roger Ross Williams’ involvement is evident in the film’s deft balance of the personal and the political. Shiro and Angela’s determination radiates off the screen; they’re not just rebuilding a library; they’re reshaping an entire community’s access to knowledge, culture, and identity.
While the film occasionally meanders, its strongest moments come when it lingers on the intimate: a stack of dusty books, the hum of conversation in newly restored reading rooms, or the candid moments of fatigue and hope that these two women share. The result is an aspirational testament to the power of collective memory and the courage it takes to imagine a future untethered from the chains of a complicated past.
How to Build a Library is more than a blueprint for renovation; it’s a blueprint for transformation.
Grade: B+
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