Poet and cultural organizer Efe Paul Azino announces a new literary festival in New York City. The New York Black & African Literature Festival (NYBALF) will take place from September 5–7, 2025 and will bring together intellectuals from across the African continent and the global Black diaspora.

Azino is best known as the founding director of the Lagos International Poetry Festival, which has in no small way aided the growth of African poetry in the past decade. With NYBALF, he’s taking that vision beyond poetry.

The festival’s inaugural theme is Radical Solidarities and will speak to the urgency of building cultural connections among black worlds. It asks what solidarity looks like across difference and how Black communities can stay connected in the face of fragmentation. “If there was ever a time to connect our fractured publics into strategic coalitions that strengthen the agency of Black communities everywhere, this is it,” said Azino who is also the director of the festival.

More than 50 writers, poets, public intellectuals, artists, and community organizers from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Americas will convene for three days to discuss these issues.

The festival will include panels, readings, film screenings, music, visual art, and a Harlem block party. The festival builds on a history of Black cultural exchange. For generations, there have been places where Black communities across the world have come into contact through art and politics. NYBALF sees itself as one of those spaces, rooted in New York’s Harlem Renaissance but looking outward, creating room for connection across geographies and generations.

Events will take place at venues across the city, with a full lineup to be announced in July. The festival is supported by the Open Society Foundation, The Africa Center, OlongoAfrica, and other partners.

More information is available at blackandafricanlitfestny.com.