Ake Arts and Book Festival

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African Literary Digest: 101 Notable Pieces of 2018

It was inevitable: compiling a list as monstrous as this would consume time, cause a delay. But here we are. 2018 came with its own firsts and highs. A new major publishing house came on board: The Indigo Press, founded by the distinguished Zimbabwean editor and critic Ellah Allfrey. A new major magazine: Kabaka, dedicated to publishing queer-centered […]

In Poetry: After LIPFest and Aké Festival, What Next for the Upcoming Nigerian Poet? | Ebenezer Agu

The event corner of the Nigerian literary scene has again gone quiet after our two major literary festivals have come and passed. Aké Arts and Book Festival—in its sixth year—happened only four days before the Lagos International Poetry Festival—in its fourth year—both in Lagos. In the time that these festivals have existed, there has been […]

Ake Festival 2018 Begins, Headlined by Nuruddin Farah, Featuring Paul Beatty, Nnedi Okorafor, Jennifer Makumbi, Frankie Edozien, Mona Eltahawy

The 2018 Ake Arts and Book Festival begins today. Themed “Fantastical Futures,” this year’s event, moved to Lagos from Abeokuta where it had always been held, will focus on a reimagined Africa and will last from October 24 – 27. The festival is headlined by Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah, whose newest, 14th novel is North of […]

Fantastical Futures | Ake Festival 2018 Will Focus on a Re-Imagined Africa

The 2018 Ake Arts and Book Festival theme is “Fantastical Futures.” Previously held in Abeokuta, the 2018 event will be moved to Lagos. It will last from October 24 – 27. Founded in 2013 by Lola Shoneyin—Orange Prize-longlisted author of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, director of Book Buzz Foundation, founder of the publishing house Ouida Books, […]

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Features, Stories and Poems, Submission January 18, 2018

Heaven Is a Place South of Here | Kanyinsola Olorunninsola | Memoir

And because no man is permitted entry into heaven without a sacrifice of his own. . . the story of your journey to Ake. 1. Abeokuta was not all too welcoming in the way that glorious Meccas were meant to embrace pilgrims. Its austere collection of distinct brown roofs arranged in military fashion served as […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News December 21, 2017

Photos | Ake Festival: Day 3 | Saraba’s Launch of Its First Print Issue

At the 2017 Ake Arts and Book Festival, Saraba magazine launched its first print issue. Themed Transitions, the issue features short fiction, reportage, travel writing, poetry, and photography. Its cover art is by Ojima Abalaka, whose artwork has appeared in The New York Times. Among the contributors are: 2014 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets winner Ladan Osman; […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News December 6, 2017

Photos | Ake Festival: Day 2 | School Visitation

The 2017 Ake Arts and Book Festival took place from 14-18 November 2017, at Kuto Cultural Centre, Abeokuta. It featured a workshop, concerts, visits to secondary schools, a festival of short films, and of course, panels of writers, filmmakers and other thinkers discussing everything around the festival’s theme, “This F-Word”: feminism, men who write women […]

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Features, Lit Scene December 4, 2017

Ake Festival 2017: F Is for an F-ing Blast | Kayode Faniyi | Memoir

Lucia was keeping us. “Stay on this side of the road,” a nice man on her bus to Ojota had told her, “don’t use the pedestrian bridge.” She was half-way to Mile 12 when I called her, frantically demanding her whereabouts. Rendezvous was Berger. The nice man had misled her. A toppled trailer or some […]