Literary Festivals You Shouldn’t Miss This Year

The literary industry in Nigeria has witnessed substantial growth and expansion in recent years. As new excellent writers emerge, literary magazines like Isele Magazine, Agbowo, The Shallow Tales Review, Efiko Magazine and others emerge to support their works, offering writers a platform to publish their works and connect with and be mentored by fellow writers.

As we veer towards the end of the year, there are exciting literary festivals that writers, especially, should not miss. From old festivals to new ones, find some of the festivals you can attend in your different states and regions.

Ake Arts and Book Festival

Ake Festival Panel on The Stories Women Are Telling (2017)

Ake Festival is one of the oldest and most popular literary festivals in Africa. Every year, the festival brings creatives from all over the world to Lagos to discuss books, literary trends, and everything literature. A new issue of Ake Review will also be unveiled and, this year, the festival will be held between the 22nd of November and the 25th of the month.

Lagos International Poetry Festival

Since 2015, the Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFEST) has been one of the most engaging festivals in Nigeria and Africa. Majorly for poets, the festival is attended by writers, thinkers and artists interested in witnessing the booming atmosphere of African literature in Nigeria and Africa. For this year, the festival will be held between the 26th of October and the 29th of the month.

Sokoto Book and Arts Festival

SOBAFest is a brewing literary festival held in Sokoto and launched two years ago. For its first edition, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, one of Nigeria’s finest prose writers, was featured. This year, the festival is set to be held between the 17th of November and the 19th of the month.

Kwara Books and Arts Festival

If you’re in Ilorin and would love to experience the full experience of a literary festival, KWABAFest is one of the most exciting new literary festivals launched last year. Although a date has not been announced, another edition of KWABAFest is forthcoming this year.

Hausa International Book and Arts Festival

HIBAF “is a crisscross festival of arts and language by and for African creatives across Europe, West and East Africa with a touch of what the arts in Hausa ought to be. The festival opens up discussions about the Hausa language through history, music and arts.” The festival’s date has not been announced but it is forthcoming this year.

Ụmụọfià Arts and Books Festival

Ụmụọfià Arts and Books Festival is a new festival forthcoming in November in honour of Chinua Achebe. It is expected to be held from November 8th to 11th.

Are there festivals we might have missed? Go ahead, mention them.

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All fliers are culled from the festivals’ social pages.