Rising Chicago rapper Noname has announced she’s starting a nationwide book club that will have meetings at local bookstores owned by people of color.
Noname, aka Fatimah Nyeema Warner, made the announcement July 14 via Twitter, that Noname’s Book Club will feature works by women of color and LGBTQIA+ writers. The two August book selections are Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby. In a tweet Thursday, she said she’s looking for bookstore affiliates to hold meetings.
Hey guys, I’m in the process of setting up a few local chapters for the book club! These meet ups will take place in a POC owned bookstore. If there is a store you would like to nominate email nonamebookclub91@gmail.com
— Noname Book Club (@NonameBooks) July 25, 2019
In a world of celebrity book clubs mostly led by white women non-authors, Noname is the second prominent black woman this month to start a public book club. Novelist and memoirist Roxane Gay had her first book club meeting last week discussing Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys that’s being televised on HBO and online at Vice.
Earlier this month, Noname was reminiscing on how her mother, Desiree Sanders, at 25 in 1990 was the first black woman to own a bookstore in downtown Chicago with sharing a business profile on Twitter. According to the profile, the bookstore sat in the back of a beauty supply store with counting celebrities such as Maya Angelou, Chris Rock, and Damon Wayans as visitors.
With recent singles like “Song 32,” Noname had canceled the majority of her summer tour due to ongoing health issues. She still has concerts in Los Angeles, where she currently lives, and Chicago, her hometown, set in August.