Ake Arts & Books Festival Marks 10th Anniversary

By Isaac Daniel, Lagos

Post a two-year hiatus (from physical event) owing to COVID 19 pandemic, Ake Arts & Books Festival returns in time to mark her tenth anniversary this year.

The festival is scheduled to take hold November 24-25, 2022 at the Strong Tower Events Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos State.

The festival set to host over a hundred authors, poets, artistes and other creatives across the African continent and beyond as usual, was initially intended to hold at its venue of origin in Abeokuta, but organizers decided on the Lagos venue for the safety and convenience of its international guests.

Themed Homecoming, this tenth edition of the festival emphasizes the influence of African roots on Africa’s arts and creative expression.

“Our African roots influence our art and our creative expression but as we migrate and settle around the globe, these bonds may weaken with time. So, this makes the ritual of homecoming particularly significant. We are excited to welcome creatives of African descent to Lagos State for Africa’s biggest literary festival,” said festival founder and director, Lola Shoneyin.

Meantime, festival organizers are determined to deliver an outstanding outing post its two-year hiatus and against challenges of current Nigerian climes.

“We spare no expenses ins ensuring that our guests time with us is enriching. It makes us so proud when our guests tell us that Ake Festival in the world. This is excellent feedback because it has always been important to us that they feel valued and cherished,” said the director.

Supported by the US State Department in Nigeria, Ouida Books, MTN, the French Institute, Heinrich Boll Foundation among others, Ake Festival has lined up an array of celebrated guest writers to feature in its array of educative, informative and entertaining activities. They include 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature awardee, Abdulrazak Gurnah, prolific and award-winning French artiste, Victoria Tadjo. Gumah is making a second appearance at the festival after headlining its 2021 virtual edition. “We are delighted to announce that he (Gumah) will be joining us in person at Ake Festival next week,” added Shoneyin.

Other key activities at the festival include panel discussions on a range of topics spanning literature and sociopolitical issues in Nigeria and Africa; festival film screening and a concert, palm wine and poetry night. The film screening will feature the festival’s film the Biyi Bandele directed and Ebony Life directed The King’s Horseman, in addition to a conversation with key actors in the film; the poetry night - South African poets and other African poets, and the concert to feature five distinguished, evergreen performances by Queen Salawa Abeni, Adunni Nefertiti, German-based Bantu, Brymo and Ria Sean.

“Ake Festival have immensely showcased and still showcasing the literary, arts and creative works of our artistes, authors and filmmakers to the world over the past decade. This is a very huge and commendable achievement,” said

Abena Annan,

Head of

Retail

Marketing, Sterling Bank, one of the festival’s sponsors.

Similarly, the bank’s CEO, Olapeju Ibekwe noted, “Ake Festival is making a tremendous educational impact by reawakening our grossly declined reading culture. We believe that through this festival our reading culture will be actively improved and embraced. This goes a long way in training our human resources and equip them for faster national development.”