Ake Festival 2022: Pawners Paper

Ake Festival is an annual literary festival organized and sponsored by Book Buzz Foundation with objectives spanning across literacy and Literature

Ake Festival 2021: AKE ARTS & BOOK FESTIVAL

Ake Festival is an annual literary festival organized and sponsored by Book Buzz Foundation with objectives spanning across literacy expansion among children and the promotion of Literature in particular. The festival features numerous areas of art, such as, music, writing and artists.

Few sneak peak about the Book Buzz Organization:

The Book Buzz Foundation is a non-governmental organization founded by writer Lola Shoneyin in 2012. The members of the Board of Trustees include Ms Mojisola Adeniran and Dr Soji Adelaja. Their aims are to promote literacy and culture, develop reading tools, support schools in the creation of reading spaces. In general, their primary goal is literacy.

Ake Festival

The Ake Festival is currently in its eight year and the Ake Arts And Book Festival has brought over 400 artists, writers, poets, musicians, dancers and thinkers together in Abeokuta, in Lagos State, Nigeria and now globally via a digital festival. It was founded by novelist and publisher, Lola Shoneyin.

The primary goals of the festival are to promote, develop and celebrate creativity on the African continent through a series of events during the festival. These include panel discussions, workshops, bookchats, plays, poetry events, concerts and performances.

The Ake Festival also has bookstore with stocked books primarily focusing on African writers and book about Africa.

The Ake Festival 2021 Theme

The Ake Festival 2021 is four days of cultural immersion with a titled theme "Generational Discordance"

"Generational Discordance” speaks to the ways in which an increasingly globalized world and the rise of digital culture are widening the distance between generations.

 These are timely concerns and grounds for productive conversations. How can we reach across the divide? How can we leverage existing spaces of discourse such as social media to stage meaningful exchange in spite of the attendant perils of digital culture?"

An abridged version of the announcement

"From relationships, love and marriage, spirituality and religion, gender and feminism to politics and activism, the Internet has exposed generational differences. Where earlier generations of Africans are anchored to their cultural identities, our younger compatriots see themselves as part of a globalized world.

From Boomers to Millennials to Gen Z, the pace of societal change means our lived experiences are diverse, but this does not mean that our aspirations are.

Africa cannot afford the luxury of endless culture wars. Engagement and communication, characterized by a willingness to listen, mutual respect, and empathy is what will face down the retrogressive forces and the structures and systems that oppress, asphyxiate, and dehumanize us.

We must eschew the sensationalism and divisive influence of digital algorithms and find a more harmonious continental rhythm that allow us to talk to, and not past, each other.

This year, in addition to lively book chats and panels, Ake Festival will curate 6 intergenerational conversations on themes that impact our lives in very real ways.

The theme for Ake Arts and Books Festival is…

GENERATIONAL DISCORDANCE." — culled from Ake Festival Website.

The Ake Festival 2021 is set to be virtual and will commence from October 28th to 30th 2021.

Going back to the previous year, the theme for the Ake Festival 2020 was "Black Magic" and was primarily focused on children's writing and memoirs . The theme for 2019 and 2018 were “Black Bodies | Grey Matter,” and “Fantastical Futures,” respectively.