Coffee, Books and Travel Stories at Go Yummy Restaurant

The 140th Turning Pages Book Club Session was hosted by Go Yummy Restaurant, located on 55 KG 676 Street in Kigali. In the warm and relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant, we gathered for another meaningful edition of the program - one that blended books, conversation, coffee, and travel storytelling.

For this session, we turned the pages of Nyanza: Through the Eyes of a Domestic Tourist, a booklet highlighting my experiences exploring Nyanza District in Rwanda’s Southern Province. The publication captures reflections from the journey, encounters with local communities, historical landmarks, cultural spaces, and the quiet beauty that continues to define the district.

Unlike some of our larger sessions, this edition brought together a smaller group of three participants. Yet, the intimacy of the gathering became one of its greatest strengths. The setting encouraged deeper engagement, thoughtful reflections, and meaningful exchanges around travel, storytelling, tourism, and the evolving culture of reading in Rwanda.

In line with our growing Coffee & Books lifestyle, the conversations unfolded over cups of highly graded Rwandan coffee. There is something special about pairing books with coffee in a calm environment. The experience slows people down, creates openness, and allows discussions to flow naturally beyond the pages of the featured publication.

Another fascinating aspect of this session was the profile of the participants themselves. The attendees were professionals in the tourism and hospitality industry with extensive travel backgrounds and diverse experiences across destinations. Their perspectives, observations, and feedback added tremendous value to the discussions. Sessions like these continue to demonstrate how Turning Pages is becoming more than a reading initiative. It is gradually evolving into a platform for cultural exchange, tourism dialogue, and shared discovery.

At the conclusion of the session, we left behind the copies of the books used during the discussions for the next occupiers of the space. This forms part of a new initiative through which every café or venue that hosts the program becomes home to an Afrika Nzuri Reading Corner. These reading corners serve as small but growing extensions of the rapidly expanding Afrika Nzuri Library, allowing more people to encounter African travel stories organically within everyday spaces.

As Turning Pages continues to grow, partnerships with cafés, restaurants, hotels, and creative spaces are helping shape a new culture built around books, conversation, coffee, and the celebration of Africa’s beauty.