in the first eight years since the foundation, the book café organized 7,500 concerts and events, 650 public debates, 70 book presentations and 35 theater performances, and did it offer stage to 150 international touring acts. the book café was originally created by paul brickhill, in order for his band, "luck street blues" featuring miriam mandipira, david ndoro and his son tomas brickhill, to have a venue. among the nearly 1000 concerts the band performed between 1995 and 2005, most of them took place at the book café.