Things I Thought About x Prince.s Des Villes: Kriticos, founder of The Book Club
In this week's installment of our collaboration with Prince.s De Villes, we meet with Zambian artist, writer and activist (just to name a few of his titles!) Kriticos.
Kriticos is a man of many talents. With an unspeakable amount of outstanding achievements under his belt all before the age of 30, he is the epitome of a Renaissance man.
Passionate about books since childhood, Kriticos founded The Book Club with the aim to inspire people of his generation to get acquainted with reading and the pioneering authors that contributed necessary philosophies to the world.
Focusing mostly on Black women writers, The Book Club has expanded from a passion project to a full on business in the span of only a few years.
Since the first session at Mendo Books in 2021 with the support of Gunifort Uwambaga, the project has touched down in multiple Nordic countries and is currently preparing to become even bigger.
We had a long conversation —via email— so buckle up! But trust me, it’s worth the time!
So, Kriticos..from what I have learned about you by scavenging the internet for information, it seems like you are a jack of many trades but words are the culprit of it all. A musician, writer, activist, and Book Club host. How did it all start and what is it about each creative endeavor that keeps you going?
Hey Naomi! Yeah, I’ve been in love with reading most of my life.
From before I could even read, I would walk around with a book and pretend to read it. Some people went to kindergarten with their blanket, I had a book.
I learned how to read at 3 years old, and developed a deeper love for words thanks to that.
I loved the power words could hold, the different ways they can be used to describe something and make you feel things or see the world in a whole new light.
As I grew older, I developed a love for music, mainly through my parents and my surroundings.
Growing up in Zambia, I was often around music.
My dad had a lot of friends in the business that are now considered legends in African music history: Hugh Masekela, Oliver Mtukudzi, Miriam Makeba, etc.
Being around these musicians and seeing them perform live, I would be inspired and gain knowledge and love for the craft. My mom also exposed me to R’n’B and Neo Soul, she’d listen to Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Common and more.
My Brothers introduced me to rap and hip hop, like Eminem, DMX, 50 Cent etc.
I wrote my first song at 8 years old and I decided I really liked writing music.
I learned the formula of how a song is written from church, as we sang the hymns I’d notice that there’s mostly 3 verses and 1 chorus/hook and I just started writing in that formula.
The activism came from just being aware of my surroundings. When I moved to Europe, I was made very aware of the differences and double standards in society, so I’d get into debates with my family and friends about how things work.
Though, I didn’t start public speaking until my dad’s funeral.
My dad had always encouraged me to speak in public, because he said I was a great storyteller and a great speaker.
I never had the courage to speak in public when he was alive, but when he died I decided that would be the best moment to finally do it. It was now or never.
He never saw me speak, but I wanted to make sure that he was at least present for my first public speech.
Even though he was in a casket, it meant a lot to me to have his presence in the room.
Funny enough, that was the most important speech I’ve ever done.
The president of Zambia, government representatives from Sierra Leone and UK and National TV were all there.
I didn’t care for all that, because all that mattered to me was that my dad was in the room.
Two months after the funeral, I co-organised the first black lives matter protest in Belgium and spoke at that event.
My speech gained a lot of traction and I got hired by Amnesty international as the main spokesperson for their campaign against racial profiling in Belgium.
I spoke in the Federal Parliament of Belgium at 21, to propose laws to the government.
I’ve spoken at a lot of other events and establishments since then. Most recently I spoke in the European Parliament, in Brussels.
The main thing that keeps me going in all of this, though, is that it feels natural to me.
This all comes from a pure place of love and passion. If I start to feel like I’m forcing something or any of these endeavors feel like they're not coming from a pure place at all, I’ll probably stop and focus on something that drives me.
When the main goal isn’t money or any external riches, the effort and time you’re willing to put into something is endless.
What does running a Book Club even entail in the age of fast reading and 140 characters limit?
The Book Club is a book club that doesn't require any of the attendees to read the book..that’s why it works so well.
I read the book, and collect different quotes and such from the book and introduce the quotes to the people for us to discuss them in a way that doesn’t make you feel left out, even if you didn’t read anything. It’s very different from the “traditional book club”.How do you keep your community engaged and aware of your events? Do you have a special newsletter, discord space or is it simply word of mouth?
So far it’s mainly been word of mouth. Especially when it comes to the Book Club, I try to keep it to as little promotion as possible, because less is more. Social Media is the main driver, though.Who attends your sessions?
Anyone is welcome. Old, young, rich, poor, book smart, street smart. The more perspectives we have in the room the better. No matter what your background is, you have a story to tell and your own way of seeing the world. That is really valuable.
But so far, my main attendees are Afrodescendants. Most notably African women.
How can something as simple as a book club help interconnect different generations? Is there a specific book you find timeless?
Books are messages left behind by people that we may never meet or that may no longer be around.
Through books, their perspectives and knowledge lives on forever.
Through The Book Club I aim to elevate the voices of authors that I feel are not heard as much, or taken as seriously as they should be in Western Society. So the main books I choose are from African (female) authors. Their perspective is really wide and the conversations that come out during the book clubs really help connect people. I’ve heard some amazing life stories, and very wise words during the sessions.People that come in as strangers, leave the book club with an intimate connection between each other.
A book I find timeless for this question especially, would be between these 2:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Touches on how absurd Western Society is, as well as point out the issues Africans face in a world where Western Society is an aspiration. It’s a great read, and it's the book that inspired me to start the book club in the first place.)
The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer (Although it’s written by a white man, this book helped me –and numerous other people I’ve recommended this book to– see beyond myself. It helped me realize how we are truly Spirits living a human experience, which is temporary in the grander scheme of things.)
How do you pick the topic of discussion and the book to discuss?
So far, it’s been from books that I read.
I would read a book and if there are quotes or chapters in the book that I think would be really interesting to discuss in a group setting, I’ll then decide to focus on that book for a future session.I am opening up the book club to welcome recommendations and book lists though.
What does a typical session look like?
It looks like a roundtable discussion with people from all backgrounds or ages.
Most times there’s drinks and some snacks, but every time it would be people sitting in a sort of circular form.
We read a quote and discuss a subject like Love or Death and the conversation carries itself into places some of us have never gone before. I learn a lot from each book club I’ve hosted.You hosted your first book club in July 2021 at Mendo in Amsterdam. We previously chatted with Gunifort and he told us all about his love for books and how his experience as an introverted child has shaped his career and business. Did he help you understand that what you had on your hands was an important idea and something to dedicate more time to?
Meeting Gunifort was definitely part of God’s plan for me and him – We said it when we’d first met, actually. He has a Rich Spirit.
I had pitched the Book Club concept to Gunifort, in the hopes of just hosting one session in Mendo, but once he heard the idea, he loved it so much, because he’d been trying to host book clubs for quite some time prior to our meeting, but his main obstacle was that people didn’t really read.
He was the first person to help me realize that the Book Club concept was a golden idea! Before meeting him, I had never thought of taking it further than just a hobby but he said:
“Think big, where would you see this going if you had absolutely no limitations? You have Carte Blanche, brother.” He then drafted a few ideas and things on a paper and handed it to me. I’ve kept that paper till this day. We hosted our first session in July and we plan on hosting more in the future, as partners, but since that first session in July, the Book Club has taken a life of its own. I owe a lot to that man.
When a company reaches out to you to organize a book club, what is their main goal?
It depends. I get different companies reaching out to me for different reasons:
Soho House reached out to me in order to have an interesting activity for their members.
Netflix reached out for consulting for their PR team, with the formula of the Book Club, I sort of can make a crash course of any book, because you wouldn’t have to read it.
Tamiim and The Book Club collaboration was both to activate their beauty studio, as well as sort of connect their audience more, so it was somewhat marketing as well, you could say.
KU Leuven university was to inspire their students to read more.
Muntpunt library was to promote the books they have in their library as well as bring in a certain target audience.
The concept is very versatile so it can serve for different purposes. I just make sure that the sessions I do make sense and are focused on connection and the people, more than anything.
You have recently worked with the British Council of the Netherlands to host a session on unconscious bias, how does one go about preparing for such critical subject matter?
Initially, it made me nervous. Because I didn’t know how to prepare for it.
I thought I’d need to have a hard hitting professional book about diversity and such; but overtime, I’ve realized that with The Book Club, the conversation goes from a simple quote into a much larger conversation very smoothly.
So I had collected quotes from different books that would direct the conversation into the subject without making it seem too serious.
We ended up covering a lot of hard hitting topics, in a very organic way. It was lovely.During the height of the BLM movement back in 2020, you were part of the protests in Belgium. During that time, lots of (white) people turned to Black literature to educate themselves about racism, inclusion and diversity. Obvious topics that up until then had remained unexplored to them. What is your opinion on the spike in the sale of these books over the last two years? And how can we collectively use these written testimonies for better understanding the people around us?
Yeah, that was a very weird period in time… I had co-organized the protest in Brussels which brought in a lot of people, but I had an issue with how performative it had become.
I felt like for some people, it was more about being seen at the protests, and how much you’ve done for “the cause” than the actual problem at hand.I organized my own gathering. It wasn’t a protest per se, but a healing session. It was a breathing session, where I invited anyone to come sit in the park, to discuss different experiences and perspectives on race and racism, then we’d have a 9min breathing session, in honor of George Floyd being denied 9min of air, before his untimely death.
I say this story, because I’m really happy to see the spike in sales, but on the other, hand I’m really skeptical on how many (non-black) people are actually reading these books and using the knowledge in them to navigate the world in a more conscious way, rather than just have it on their shelf as a sort of lambs blood, in order to not be deemed a racist or ignorant. I’m curious how many people that bought these books are really bringing up the difficult conversations among their peers or using it in their daily lives.
For the 2nd question, I think the way we can use written testimonies is to acknowledge them fully and then change the way we navigate the world. Take example of the trans movement, the ways in which many people and establishments in western society have educated themselves on how to not misgender or misname a trans person. I think we should learn from black testimonies and change the way we speak to, and treat black people. We have a long way to go, but it definitely starts from educating yourself, so regardless, I’m still happy people made the effort to buy books.
How can books help society move forward?
Books are collections of stories, perspectives and knowledge left behind by someone.
Regardless of a person’s background, we can learn something from anybody’s experience/perspective. I think books can help society move forward by acknowledging the messages left behind by our peers.There’s no manual on how to navigate life, but people have taken a moment of their life experience to share what to do and maybe what not to do in different situations. We can learn from them and connect to them and to others through books.
What is something you have learned by organizing The Book Club? What are the main takeaways?
Since July 2021, I have gathered over 500 people to talk about books. I’ve learned a lot of things, from all these different perspectives.
One of the most interesting sessions I hosted were the sessions on “All About Love”.
I focused on that book throughout February and March, and I really noticed how much we all don’t really know a lot about this subject of Love.
Regardless of age, or background, we’re all still learning how to love and how we want to experience love. Through these conversations, I’ve learned how to be a better friend, how to be a more responsible lover and family member.A lot of the time, people say The Book Club feels like group therapy, and I think that’s very true.
However, as a person, thanks to organizing these book clubs, I’ve learned how to facilitate difficult conversations and how to moderate a group conversation. It’s not easy, but I’ve really gotten a knack for it, overtime.
Hosting these book clubs have really helped me do that.How do you evaluate the success of your book club?
If you’re talking about the success of a single session, I evaluate it mainly by how well the conversation flows, how comfortable the people were to share their stories and perspectives and how connected I feel.
On a wider scale, The Book Club, overtime, has really evolved organically.
I’ve now turned it into a business, but it doesn’t feel like I’m selling a product, more an experience that is pure, so it doesn’t feel like work. I don’t know how to explain it. But it has grown a lot and I see that through the returning attendants, the different spaces inviting the book club to come into and the different people coming to our sessions.I’ve hosted sessions in Germany, Belgium and Amsterdam, and I’m now in talks of going into more countries. It’s really exciting and heartwarming to see how the love for books and conversation is truly a universal thing.
What are three books you think everyone should read?
All About Love by bell hooks (We need to talk about love more, and learn how to love more intentionally. It’s something we don’t teach and that is an issue that ruins a lot of people’s lives.)
The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer (If we all read and understood the concepts touched upon in this book, the world would be so much more peaceful.)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (We all need to be connected with our purpose, and also trust the journey that has been set for us by The Almighty. The ups and downs in this life are all part of the journey. This book will help any reader widen their perspective and see the beauty in any unfortunate event.)
What is some advice you would give to a person who says they have no time to read?
Get a small book, a pocket book.
A simple read, and carry it with you. On the train rides, bus rides, flights, etc. – Any moment you feel free enough to just scroll through your phone, grab that book and read 1 chapter, or 10 pages, a time. It is a habit that will change your life.Prince.s Des Villes stands for Prince of the Town and it references those people who are not afraid to lead by example and shake the status quo. In your opinion, what makes for a good Prince De Ville?
After listening to Gunifort’s response to this answer I really liked what he said:
Leadership is somebody that is in service to his/her people.
In Eben’s interview he said:
Before you become a king, you’re a prince. The walk in life is important, starting somewhere and spending time before you become what you’re destined to be.
I’d like to expand on that.
I grew up as a Bemba, a tribe in Zambia.
My dad is Bemba and was very good friends with the Emperor of the Bemba Kingdom – The Mwata Kazembe.
When we’d visit the palace, the Mwata was very regal and although he was friendly with us, he was still the King of our tribe, and so there was that distance that played a role in how I saw him and carried myself around him.However, his son, the prince, was a friend of mine and my brothers. During the annual royal ceremony (The Mutomboko), when his dad was preparing for the royal dance, the prince would be hanging out with all the kids of the village just playing around and being a kid.
He was with the people and there wasn’t as big of a social distance between him and us, the people.I say all this to say – being a Prince de Ville is someone that is destined to lead the people, but as a Prince they must be connected to the people, in an intimate way, learn from them and be of service before they go on to fulfill their role as a king. Because what is a king without his kingdom? If a king isn’t intimately connected with the people before they gain that role, can they truly claim the title of a king?
So yeah, in short, a Prince de Ville is a person of the people.
Elevating the words of the people as well as attentively listening to what they have to say.
PS:
Mutomboko Ceremony → This is a short documentary of the royal ceremony I was talking about.
The Mwata Kazembe is seen at 17:10 being carried by the Bemba People. (PLUS) You can see my dad speak at 17:50.
And the Prince is seen dancing at 21:25 ]
Lastly, where do you see the Book Club going?
I see The Book Club going global, I’m currently setting dates for Scandinavian countries, and I have hopes of taking the concept back to African countries, most notably Zambia and Tanzania. I’m working on making the concept more mobile, so I don’t have to be present for there to be a session. But I’m very excited for the future!