Local book club Mocha Girls Read is creating community, uplifting black women

Allison T. Musvosvi attributes her bookworm tendencies to parents who read to her as a child.

At a young age, "The Cat in the Hat" was a favorite.

"I memorized it," Musvosvi, 28, says. "People thought I could read, but I couldn't. I just had the entire book memorized."

Born in Zimbabwe, Musvosvi read anything Roald Dahl, Sweet Valley High and girls with horses.

At the end of last year, she began co-facilitating the Tucson chapter of Mocha Girls Read, a monthly book club that meets at Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave.

The book club, a national group based out of Los Angeles with a presence online and in a handful of cities, provides space for black women to gather and talk books. Founder Alysia Allen started the book club when she noticed she was the only black woman in other book clubs.

Arizona readers second that.

"Being in Arizona, there aren't very many women of color, and there aren't a lot of communities or activities that I found, and I'm a native to Arizona," says Yvonne Henry, the woman who started the Tucson chapter.

Henry, 33, initially joined the Tempe chapter, but launched the Tucson club near the end of 2016 after moving here. Musvosvi and her co-facilitator Anne Chege both found the group after moving to Tucson while searching for community.

Allison and Anne.jpg — Allison Musvosvi, left, and Anne Chege, right, lead the Mocha Girls Read book club at Antigone Books each month.
Courtesy of Allison Musvosvi

"It was amazing to see black women just sitting down and talking about books," Chege, 22, says. "The topics range into real life stuff, which is fun, and ages vary."

About a dozen people gather at Antigone each month to discuss the book pick. And although the purpose of the club is to uplift black women, anybody is welcome, says Henry, who is spending a few months in Phoenix. The online Meetup group for Tucson has about 60 members, although that many readers don't show up at once.

Having a book club specifically for black women creates not just community but a chance "to discuss literature from that perspective and lived experience..." Musvosvi says.

"In other kinds of book clubs, maybe you have to go through a lot more work explaining why you see something in a different way as a black woman, why your reading of the text comes differently," Musvosvi adds. "A lot of that is now the default in the Mocha Girls Read book club because a lot of the women are coming from the same experience."

Because of a shared base perspective, Musvosvi says discussions can go deeper into nuances that may not always come up in other conversations — for example, growing up in the suburbs versus the city versus a rural area.

"Oftentimes that dialogue is turned into a monolithic experience: The black experience," she says.

There is no requirement to read books by black authors or with black characters — it's the shared understanding that matters. In April, for example, the club decided to read a book by an Asian author. After voting on nominees, they picked "Crazy Rich Asians" by Kevin Kwan. All of the book-club chapters read the same book each month, ranging from autobiographies to holiday-themed novels.

Participants in the Mocha Girls Read book club gather at Antigone Books once a month to discuss the monthly pick.
Courtesy of Allison Musvosvi

"Not all of our members are black, but a lot of them already have a deep understanding," of race relations, Musvosvi says.

Her move to the U.S. from Africa as a 14-year-old taught her to readjust her own perspective when her experience was no longer "the norm."

Since moving to Tucson in July for her job as a research analyst at Illume Advising, Musvosvi has found both a community and catalyst for her reading through Mocha Girls Read — she's way more likely to finish books these days.

"It's very valuable just to be able to bounce ideas off of people and just form this sisterhood and enjoy each other..." Henry says.