Juliet Onaeko: Abuja’s Queen of Books

There is a cluster of books piled high on her desk, where a desktop computer seems to struggle for a foothold. Apart from the shelves stacked with all kinds of books in the various compartments of her tasteful bookshop and the clutter – hallmark of the “restructuring” going on, it is easy to see that […]

There is a cluster of books piled high on her desk, where a desktop computer seems to struggle for a foothold. Apart from the shelves stacked with all kinds of books in the various compartments of her tasteful bookshop and the clutter – hallmark of the “restructuring” going on, it is easy to see that for Juliet Onaeko, books are not just a business but a passion. And this explains how she has managed to turn “bookish” into chic.

The mother of one and University of Benin Graduate of Linguistics has always had a passion for the written words. She grew up reading she said. And before venturing into the book business, she was in oil and gas.

“The book thing actually started out of interest because my work experience was in oil and gas. I was in oil and gas for more than five years,” she said.

But why did she leave oil and gas for the clustered world of books?

“I didn’t leave oil and gas, I just diversified,” she insisted.

The diversification was a necessity, she said, to meet a yearning that has been there for as long as she can remember.

“I had to express it at a point in my life but for as long as I can remember, which was primary school, I have always been drawn to books.

She was encouraged by a relative, now late, who used to take her out to the supermarket to help her shop. Juliet always had one condition; to go hunting for comics in the comic section.

“Whatever I picked, she always paid and that encouraged me to pick more,” she said. “So anytime she was going to the supermarket, I developed this habit of going with her, just hop into the car and we are gone and that helped develop my interest in books.”

But that was not all that encouraged her to fall in love with books as she told Sunday Trust. There was also a brother, Richard, who she said could use all his pocket money to buy books. Whenever he was in Nigeria from where he was studying in the United States, he would always read to her.

“There were books that were usually boring but when he picks them up and reads them they suddenly become very interesting and I would go like wow! I want to have this book, I want to have more!”

Richard was  a lively reader and the way he read books and explained them to her left her with the impression that the best way to encourage children to read is to have a very good reader reading to them very early.

Making a business of a passion

Ensconced in her kingdom of books, Juliet seemed at home talking about books and their authors, her passion for the written word glows on her face. But somewhere along the line, she decided to make a business of her passion and she started off selling books from the car of her boot about a decade ago.

“I think I even sold more from the boot of my car than I did from the shop back then,” she said, remembering the early days. She made huge sales on Sundays when she left church and people would troop out to buy books as presents for loved ones.

“It turned out to be good money for that day,” she said. This spurred her to incorporate a bookshop, where people could come in and buy books that would, she hopes, transform their lives. She is passionate about empowering people, she said. She decided to call the bookshop Pen and Pages and ever since 2003, the bookshop at White House, Wuse Zone 2, has had its doors open to all sorts of book lovers and literary enthusiasts. But Juliet says the books are just a means to an end.

“A lot of times Pen and Pages, we try not to put the focus on books all the time, you come in and pick a book maybe because you have a challenge, a relationship issue, finance, career. People come to buy books for different reasons and if you pick a book for the challenge you are facing, say relationship, and three months later you come in to buy a book on the same thing, I don’t feel fulfilled,” Juliet said. “I prefer when next they come in, they are coming for something else. That’s why I get bothered when people buy books and they don’t read them.”

Finding fulfilment

Juliet’s passion for books is all encompassing. Her bookshop has been a hub for literary activities. The Abuja Writers Forum has been a beneficiary of Juliet’s passion as she hosts their monthly Guest Writer Sessions for no pay. And the sessions are well attended.

There are other readings their as well and Cassava Republic Publsiher has, on occasions, brought some of their acclaimed authors to read there.  Some prominent Nigerian writers who have read there include the likes of Sarah Manyinka, Commonwealth prize winner, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Halima Sekula, and Lola Shoneyin, just to mention a few. They have made Pen and Pages a Mecca of sorts for writers and lovers of writing in Abuja.

She said the trade has been emotionally and financially rewarding because she gets to meet intelligent people who come to drink from the fountain of wisdom she is sitting on and they make a lasting impression on her.

Riding the tackles

It has not always been a bed of roses though, as the saying goes. Setting up her book business has come with its challenges but she says there is nothing peculiar about the challenges she has been facing.

“Most of the time, these books are not produced in Nigeria and you have to get them in and the ones produced in Nigeria, the quality is so low sometimes you don’t want to put them in your shop. Sourcing for the materials can be challenging, you know,” she said.

But to make matters a little more difficult, there is the problem of patronage which she thinks is not unrelated to the state of the country’s reading culture.

“I even have friends who say, you know I would come and patronise you if only you are selling cloths but since you are selling books, sorry, I don’t have anything to buy from you,” she said.

The high ratio of illiteracy in the country is also a factor affecting business as well as the none availability of money for people to buy books, the constant power outages which some say hampers their reading appetite and other factors that contribute to the shrinking book market. But she is not allowing that to hinder her growth. She believes other people in other sectors equally have their own share of challenges and so shetends to look at solutions rather than problems.

For every career woman, there is always this challenge of running a home and running a business. Is Juliet facing that sort of challenge?

“No, I’m not,” she said emphatically. “It’s just that sometimes I want to sleep more and if I were a full-time house wife, I could sleep all I want.”

There is also the little trouble of occasionally getting home late. “I think it’s all about understanding. If you are married to somebody who understands you and what you are involved in, that person would either support you or destroy you but a reasonable person would support you,” she said.

Her husband, Mr. Onaeko, doesn’t seem like the destroying type though. He dropped by the bookshop at about the time Sunday Trust was having a chat with his wife. He gave the impression of one who understands and appreciates what his wife is involved in. Juliet said communication played a major role in helping her achieve this balance because she is not “keeping the other person in the dark.”

Her young family does not in any way appear to be taking the back burner. She emphasizes this with framed family pictures on the wall of her office, directly opposite her chair. Talk about being focused.

Opening new vistas

Juliet is not only interested in selling books, she loves to make them. This is the reason behind Pen and Pages Publishing, a fledging arm she is trying to float. It has not fully taken off yet but she is optimistic it will thrive soon. She is also into library solutions, and from the range of exquisite library fitments on display, one could see style and a ruthless determination to stamp out this notion of libraries and studies being those eerie rooms, smelling of old books where cranky old men in glasses go to be alone. There is style in the libraries Juliet is passionate about setting up and decorating, and there is no doubt she likes to make reading fashionable.

Not all about books

As far as she is concerned, there is more to her passion than just books. She is passionate about “empowering people” she says and sees books as the best way of moulding people to better their lots.

“The main thing that led us into the books [business] is to empower people,” she said. This is very important to her and that is why she doesn’t feel threatened by the digital age that might interfere with demands for books. She is also venturing into providing online solutions for researchers and making plans to have e-books and audio books on the shelves.

“If books stop empowering people and we find other ways of doing that, we’ll go ahead and do it,” she said. “On the day I wake up and discover the books are no longer empowering people, which I very much doubt, then I have no business hanging around books anymore.”

But the way she goes about restructuring, that day is not on the horizon yet.