Noname‘s self-titled book club, which sends free books to incarcerated people, will no longer shutter its virtual doors. The rapper made a plea Sunday, to help Noname Book Club survive, after a drop in paid subscribers. Since making the request, she increased her paid subscriber base from 5,900 to 10,000, she wrote in an Instagram post Monday.
“February was slated to be the month we close operations due to a lack of funds,” she wrote. “Now i’m sitting here crying tears of joy. I can’t thank y’all enough.”
Noname Book Club operates both inside and outside correctional facilities, and offers involved members two free books, written by Black, Indigenous, and authors of color, each month. Along with chapters within prisons and jails, Noname wrote she plans to open a chapter in Nigeria this month. Noname also launched her Radical Hood Library in Oct. 2021. The library, based in Los Angeles, hosts national chapter meetings, open mic nights, documentary screenings, and packages books to send out to prisons and jails. In her Sunday post, she wrote that “shame” and “fear of judgment” initially dissuaded her from asking for funds, emphasizing that it costs thousands to send books to incarcerated readers each month.
“During times where money is tight I carry the financial responsibility but I don’t make enough money to keep this going by myself,” she wrote in a Sunday Instagram post. “Trust me I tried.”
Noname has since received an influx of requests from fans interested in adding their incarcerated family and friends. Setting her next goal at 15,000 paid subscribers, Noname hopes to move 300 incarcerated people off the waitlist. Subscription tiers range from $1 to $10 a month.
“We asked for a Black History Month miracle and that’s exactly what we got,” she wrote Monday. “Sending everyone so much love!”
Noname released her latest album Sundial in 2023, which included the work of 12 vocalists and 9 instrumentalists and topped Rolling Stone’s top rap albums list that year.
