In this opening episode of My African Bookshelf, Jii ;a former librarian, invites you into a different kind of library: a living shelf of African stories across books, albums, films, and oral traditions. This is not a podcast about reading or watching for leisure alone, but a thinking space for memory, meaning, and method. We talk about why stories matter, how they freeze a moment in culture, and what they reveal about power, identity, and how Africans are seen—by themselves and by the world. You will also hear about the first work on the shelf, Empire of AI by Karen Hao, and why a book about artificial intelligence belongs in a conversation about African futures.