The Centre for Memories – Ncheta Ndigbo, based in Enugu, has officially announced Nigerian poet, writer, journalist, and singer James Eze as the Chair of the Planning Committee for the 2025 edition of Things Fall Apart Day festival, to be held June 10-17.

Currently in its third year of celebration, the Things Fall Apart Day is a day set aside to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s 1958 classic novel, that revolutionized African and international postcolonial literature. The Centre shared in a statement to The Nigerian Voice:

Things Fall Apart is more than just a novel—it is a cultural landmark. It gave voice to the Igbo worldview, challenged colonial narratives, and provided a literary foundation for postcolonial African storytelling. For the Igbo people, it is a reflection of our traditions, complexities, and resilience. For minority groups around the world, it stands as a symbol of the struggle to assert identity in the face of external forces. Each year, Things Fall Apart Day serves as a moment to revisit these themes and examine how they continue to resonate in today’s world.

Eze’s appointment has been welcomed as a natural fit, given his contributions to Nigeria’s literary landscape over nearly two decades, including an essay rethinking the character Unoka in Things Fall Apart for The Lagos Review and a personal essay criticizing the choice of Idris Elba to lead the film adaptation of the novel. He co-curated the Fidelity International Creative Writing Workshop with Chimamanda Adichie and co-founded Return 2 Idoto, a poetry festival in honor of Christopher Okigbo, alongside novelist Odili Ujubuonu. As a poet, Eze’s debut collection dispossessed (Daraja Press) won the 2020 Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize and was longlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2022.

The Centre expressed confidence in Eze’s “dedication to the promotion of Igbo heritage, literature, and cultural discourse has been invaluable in shaping our initiatives,” reports The Nigerian Voice.

The 2025 festival will focus on the theme “Masculine, Feminine, Human: The Dialogue of Complements in Things Fall Apart.” This year’s celebration promises a rich lineup of symposiums, performances, exhibitions, and cultural immersion across Enugu.

We can’t wait to see the line up of events Eze will curate for the festival!