Ibadan: The Literary Festival 2019

A snapshot of Ibadan: The Literary Festival 2019.

Ibadan: The Literary Festival 2019 happened at the Wole Soyinka Art Theatre in the Nigerian city of Ibadan on August 24, 2019.

Ibadan is famous as one of the centres of African literature in the last century. The city was thus an ideal backdrop to the one-day literary shindig that was Ibadan: The Literary Festival 2019. Festival guests were treated to readings of poetry and prose, panels, performances of poetry, storytelling, and music and lots more.

Panels

Logan February, moderator TJ Benson, Nwachukwu Egbunike, and Prof Femi Osofisan
Logan February, moderator TJ Benson, Nwachukwu Egbunike, and Prof Femi Osofisan

One of the panels at the festival was entitled “Arts: Conserving or Disrupting Culture” with Chuma Nwokolo, Ayodele Olofintuade, and Charles Akinsete as panellists and Dr Yinka Egbokhare as the moderator. Another panel discussion on “The Place of the Artist: Activism or Aesthetics” with TJ Benson as the moderator, had Nwachukwu Egbunike, Logan February and Prof Femi Osofisan as panellists.

Readings

Chuma Nwokolo
Chuma Nwokolo

There were readings by Chuma Nwokolo on his classic How to Spell Naija as well as one by Logan February from his new poetry collection In the Nude.

Performances

Ayodele Olofintuade
Ayodele Olofintuade

This was a festival filled with a variety of performances. Poetry was performed by Karimot Odebode, Ayodele Olofintuade, Akinola Yusuf, Esther Mbabie, Faith Bello, Favour Amubode and several others. The musical performances were by Temmie Ovwasa, Law Chorale, KIO, Blessed The Minstrel, Bolu Tenabe, Benzy, and others. There was also a gripping storytelling performance by Toheeb Alade.

Creative Masterclass

Literary festivals usually host masterclasses to help novice writers to get up to speed with their craft. The masterclass at this one was conducted by Ayodele Olofintuade who has written Lakiriboto Chronicles (2018) and Eno’s Story (2010) alongside TJ Benson the brains behind the short story collection We Won’t Fade Into Darkness.

Here are more images from the festival in the Nigerian city courtesy of the event organisers.

The Law Chorale
The Law Chorale
Temmie Ovwasa
Temmie Ovwasa
Logan February
Logan February
Charles Akinsete, Chuma Nwokolo, moderator Dr Yinka Egbokhare, and Ayodele Olofintuade
Charles Akinsete, Chuma Nwokolo, moderator Dr Yinka Egbokhare, and Ayodele Olofintuade
Karimot Odebode
Karimot Odebode

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