Oyebode, Sanusi, others for Ake Festival
Professor Femi Oyebode, Samira Sanusi, Ghanaian writer and lecturer, Kobina Graham are expected guests at the 2017 Ake Arts and Book Festival.
The fifth edition of the annual event themed This F-Word will take place at the Arts and Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta from November 14 to 18, 2017.
Conversations will focus largely on creative women doing amazing things both on the African continent and beyond.
Oyebode is an award-winning psychiatrist and author of Sims Symptoms in the Mind’ and other books. Sanusi is author of S is for Survival and a Sickle Cell advocate who will be sharing her story.
Other guests include Alexis Okeowo, staff writer with the New Yorker, a fellow at New America and author of A Moonless, Starless Sky.
Also attending are Marvellous Michael, author of Birthmarked, Haneefah Adam, a mixed media and food artist whose work focuses on identity and culture, Esther Armah, journalist and Executive Producer and Host of The Spin, a weekly one hour all women of colour radio show among others.
Ake Festival is a five-day cultural immersion event featuring 100 novelists, poets, dancers, actors, illustrators, activists, musicians, artists and thinkers who storm the historic city of Abeokuta to share their works and ideas.
This year, 14 authors are expected to feature in seven book chats, an art exhibition with five female artists, a stage play, an in-depth interview and school visits. They will also participate in 14 panel discussions, four film screenings, a creative writing workshop, music concert with five women, a tour of historic sites and a night of poetry performance. Book-lovers and visitors will be treated to a range of books at the event’s bookstore.