Flanked by Maurice Igugu, the Chief Marketing Officer of Sterling Bank, and Oyeshola Oloyede, the Digital Communications Manager of Book Buzz Foundation, renowned Nigerian arts and literary curator Lola Shoneyin revealed the motivations for Ake Festival 2024 and the origins of this year's event theme, "Finding Freedom".
Visiting writers, artists, thinkers, poets, and other guests from 15 countries, including India, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Colombia, Palestine, DR Congo, and Ukraine, in this year's event marks the renewed inclusivity of curators from across the globe for the Ake Festival—a shift from previous Afro-centric-themed editions of the book and arts event.
This year's festival, which will be held at BON Hotel Ikeja Residence and kick off on November 20, 2024, will consist of 24 separate events, including panel discussions, book chats, a comedy show, film screenings, and the reprisal of a new program launched at the last edition of Ake Festive, tagged The Great African Book Quiz.
The 12th edition of the Ake Arts and Book Festival will end on November 23rd with the palm wine and poetry event.
Speaking at a press briefing at Ouida House, Ikeja, Lagos, on November 8th, 2024, Lola Shoneyin decried the mostly negative publicity that Nigeria has long struggled with, with international literary enthusiasts and stakeholders discouraged from attending physical book events in the country due to various socio-political reasons and outright outlandish claims.
Regardless, the success of recent editions of the Ake Festival, with several favourable reviews and growing recognition from international audiences and attendees, continues to disprove these false narratives, while spotlighting Nigeria's cultural diversity as its biggest strength and the source of its unique literary and art exports.
Lola Shoneyin sees the Ake Arts and Book Festival as a platform to promote the literary efforts of both mainstream and underrepresented art across different ethnicities in Nigeria.
In referencing one of the panels, tagged "Demystifying Cancer", Lola Shoneyin paid tribute to the late Tayo Agunbiade, passing on the urgings of the renowned historian and journalist that African women should do more in documenting their histories.
The convener of Ake Festival also emphasized the place of Lagos as a key hub for cultural events and activities and praised the support of the Lagos State government, which has upped its efforts this year in promoting arts and cultural events within the state.
Lola Shoneyin called on the necessity for private-public collaborations among literary and art industry stakeholders in Africa's largest metropolis while outlining the economic benefits of centrally coordinating various curated events, including the Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF), Lagos International Theatre Festival (LTF) and ART X Lagos, across a designated month of cultural activity: November.
We are missing such a big trick in this country because the literary culture and talent are so rich; there's so many people doing creative things. If the government could harness all of them, November could be a massive tourist month when people from everywhere come and attend these arts events. It would help us economically because our hotels would be full, and it would help us think more about safety and security which is one of the biggest encumbrances when it comes to people wanting to come to Nigeria. But once we get it right, I have no doubt that the potential is huge. So, I feel very lucky that Lagos State has supported us and I hope that that continues.
Lola Shoneyin
With the rising popularity of African fantasy movie adaptions and literature worldwide, the African fantasy/jujuism/Afrofuturistic genre revival can be said to be truly underway. While audiences for this brand of fiction have been here all along, the Ake Festival seeks to further explore this trend, with the inclusion of guests such as Jordan Ifueko, Erhu Kome, and Dr. Nnedi Okorafor.
Lola Shoneyin emphasized the domination of literary fiction in Nigeria among reading audiences, with contemporary authors fashioning their work after the classics of Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta, among others. However, she acknowledged the growing influence of newer African works and their ongoing diversification into genre fiction, with fantasy prominent among others.
In arriving at the theme for this year's event, "Finding Freedom," Lola Shoneyin drew inspiration from various ongoing real-world political upheavals, including crises in the Congo and Sudan, in addition to Ukraine and Gaza. All of these prompt questions on the many liberties people in other countries take for granted, such as the rights to education and freedom of religion.
The festival logo imitates the crosshairs of a firearm, signifying the search for and journey towards freedom.
Lola Shoneyin also explained the role of the Ake Festival in acknowledging and understanding the grim realities in troubled parts of Africa and the rest of the world and hearing from the people at the centre of these conflicts.
"It's very important that we internationalize Ake Festival, so that we're able to have conversations with people outside the African continent", she stated. "When we have even little information about others, it brings empathy".
Ake Arts and Book Festival 2024 promises to explore rising literary trends and various African narratives in exciting book chats and panel discussions.
The theme of this year's event places Africa at the centre of an ideological renaissance geared toward promoting intercultural understanding, while exhibiting and celebrating our rich and unique diversity.
I love that diversification into genre fiction was talked about, ‘African Lit’ feels like a blanket statement a lot of the time. As someone belonging to a book club; Book Buddies Nigeria, we get to read a book of the month and each month has its allocated genre, with one month being African Lit.
It begs the question; Comedy? Thriller? Romance? Horror?
There has been conversations about this in the club, with valid reason as to why we get to have African lit as a genre (for lack of a better word).
I love to see that others are having this conversation as well.