Ake Arts and Book Festival
Talk of literary festivals, the Ake Arts and Book Festival is unarguably one of the highly anticipated annual literary events welcoming the finest and most brilliant presentations from outstanding talents across the various creative aspects of arts and writing. Today, we discuss the Ake Arts and Book Festival, one of the continents finest literary festivals spanning over eight years.
Ake Arts and Book Festival is an annual literary, cultural and arts event founded in 2013 by Lola Shoneyin, author of ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,’ to celebrate African creativity in diverse genres. The festival has been described as “Africa’s biggest annual gathering of literary writers, critics and readers.”
Mostly held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the festival features new and established writers from across the world as well as notable individuals in their various creative fields. One of its primary objective is to promote African arts, culture and literature to a global audience.
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The prestigious book festival is indigenously named after Ake, a town in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature, Wole Soyinka was born. Since starting its first edition in 2013, the Ake Arts and Book Festival has marked exceptional writings, performances and thoughts. Interactive sessions, exhibition of arts, photographs, book launch and presentation of prizes are also special moments witnessed at the literary festival.
Now in its 9th year, the Ake Arts and Book Festival has brought well over 700 creatives including artists, writers, poets, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, and actors together. The festival has created a friendly atmosphere for thinkers and other creatives to dialogue and celebrate the creativity on the African continent through panel discussions, art exhibitions, storytelling and book chat, workshops, poetry performances, concert, stage play and film chats.
The book festival has been graced by a wide array of guests such as Wole Soyinka, Olusegun Obasanjo, Niyi Osundare, Pius Adesanmi, Funmi Iyanda, Kunle Ajibade, Molara Wood, Teju Cole, Tunde Kelani, Tolu Ogunlesi, Chude Jideonwo and a host of others.
One special product of the festival is the Ake Review, an official publication of the festival published in English, Yoruba and French languages. Ake Review has been co-edited by Oyebade Dosunmu, Lola Shoneyin, Kola Tubosun, Molara Wood, and Kolade Arogundade.
Organized by the Book Buzz Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Lola Shoneyin to promote literacy through a variety of reading programmes, the 2021 edition is scheduled to hold from the 28th to the 31st of October.
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