African literary festivals you can attend in 2017

Here is a list of African literary festivals you can attend in 2017.

2016 promised and delivered to literary feast of festivals in all corners of the continent. Writers and readers met and interacted in many different venues in many types of environments. Some like Abantu Book Festival were new while the older ones like Ake and Writivism prospered.  The one thing they had in common was the love of the written word.

2017 promises just as much literary high jinks as was seen in 2015 and 2016. Namibia Book Fair which is biannual is returning this year while the newest kid of the block is the Jalada Mobile Literary & Arts Festival 2017. The World Book Capital is in Africa this year and the host city is Conakry, Guinea.

Here are some of the events that you the book lover can check out some of your favourite author in your town. Please note that this is a work in progress and will be updated as and when information is availed to this blogger.

January

Event:  Mboka Festival of Arts Culture and Sport
Venue:  The Gambia
Dates:  7 to 17 January 2017
Report: A snapshot of The Gambia’s Mboka Festival of Arts Culture and Sport 2017

Event: Cairo International Book Fair 2017
Venue: Cairo, Egypt
Dates: 26th January to 10th of February
Guest of Honor: Morocco
Cultural Hub: “Young people and the culture of the future”
Nasr City Fair Grounds, Cairo

February

Event: Salon International de l’Edition et du Livre (Casablanca International Book Fair) 2017
Venue: Casablanca, Morocco
Dates: 09-19^th February 2017
Report: A snapshot of the International Book Fair of Casablanca 2017

Event: Cairo Literary Festival 2017
Venue: Cairo, Egypt
Dates: 13-17^th February 2017

March

Event: Jalada Mobile Literary & Arts Festival 2017
Venues: Various
Dates: 3-31 March 2017

Event: Uganda International Writers Conference 2017
Venue: Kampala, Uganda
Dates: 6-8^th March 2017.

Event: Time of the Writer
Venue: Durban, South Africa
Dates: 13-18 March
Information: https://www.facebook.com/TimeoftheWriter

Event: Alexandria Book Fair 2017
Venue: Alexandria, Egypt
Dates: 23 March to 4 April 2017.

Event: Tunis International Book Fair 2017
Venue: Tunis, Tunisia
Dates: 24th March to 2nd April 2017

April

Event: World Book Capital
Venue: Conakry, Guinea
Dates: 23-25 April 2017.

May

Event: Nigeria International Book Fair 2017
Venue: University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State
Dates: 08-13 May 2017
information: http://www.nibfng.org/

Event: Niyi Osundare Poetry Festival 2017
Venue: University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Date: To be confirmed.
Information: On the official website.

June

Event: Yaounde International Book Exhibition 2017
Venue: Yaounde, Cameroon
Dates: To be confirmed
Information: On Facebook.

Event: The Tahrir Book Fair
Venue: AUC Tahrir Campus, Cairo, Egypt
Dates: To be confirmed.

Event: Kenya Publishers Association Regional Book Fair
Venue: To be confirmed.
Date: To be confirmed.

Event: South Africa Children’s Book Fair 2017
Venue: Johannesburg, South Africa
Dates: June 15 -18
Venue: Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Info: http://www.sachildrenbookfair.co.za/

July

Event: Kaduna Book & Arts Festival
Venue: Gusau Institute, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Dates: July 5-8

Event: Hargeysa International Book Fair 2017
Venue: Hargeysa, Somaliland
Dates: 22nd – 27th July

Event: Garowe Book Fair 2017
Venue: Garowe, Somalia
Dates: July 17-20.

Event: Zimbabwe international Book Fair
Venue: Harare, Zimbabwe
Dates: Last week of September.

August

Event: Babishai Niwe Poetry Festival
Venue: Kampala
Dates: August 4-6
Information: BN Poetry Award – A Society Immersed in Poetry

Event: Mogadishu International Book Fair
Venue: Mogadishu
Dates: August 17-19
Information: Twitter and Facebook

Event: Ghana International Book Fair 2017
Venue: Accra, Ghana
Dates: August 24-27
Information: Facebook

Event: Film Mozambique
Venue: Mossuril
Dates:  August 3-14 (Postponed)
Information: http://festivalfimdocaminho.org/en/

Event: The Writivism Festival 2017
Venue: Kampala, Uganda
Dates: August 17-20
Information: Writivism

September

Event: Tilembe Literary Festival 2017
Venue: Lusaka, Zambia.
Dates: September 1-5, 2017.

Event: Open Book Festival
Venue: Cape Town, South Africa
Dates: 06-10 September 2017

Event: South African Book Fair 2017
Venue: Johannesburg, South Africa
Dates: September 8-10

Event: Gweru International Book Festival 2017
Venue: Gweru, Zimbabwe
Dates: September 14-16, 2017

Event: Nyanza Literary Festival 2017
Venue: Kisumu
Dates: September 18

Event: Nairobi International Book Fair
Venue: Nairobi, Kenya
Dates: 18-24th September 2017

Event: Storymoja Festival
Venue: Nairobi, Kenya
Dates: September 27 – October 1, 2017 

Event:  Namibia International Book Fair
Venue: Windhoek, Namibia
Dates:  To be confirmed

 October

Event: Festival Literatas 2017
Venue: Matola, Mozambique.
Dates: October 6-8

Event: Northern Cape Writers Festival 2017
Venue: Kimberley, South Africa
Dates: October 12-14.

Event: International Book Fair of Algiers, SILA 2017
Venue: Algiers, Algeria
Dates: To be confirmed.

Event: Khartoum International Book Fair 2017
Venue: Khartoum, Sudan.
Dates: To be confirmed

November

Event: Lagos Arts and Book Festival 2017
Venue: Lagos, Nigeria
Dates: 9-12 November

Event: International Book Fair of Dakar and teaching material (FILDAK) 2017
Venue: Dakar, Senegal
Dates: To be confirmed.

Event: Ake Arts & Books Festival 2017
Venue: Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Dates: 14-18 November.2017

Event: LitFest Harare
Venue: Harare, Zimbabwe
Dates: To be confirmed

Event: International Book Fair in Ouagadougou
Venue: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Dates: To be confirmed

December

Event: Abantu Book Festival 2017
Venue: Soweto, South Africa
Dates: December 7-10

Event: Salon du livre de Brazzaville (Brazzaville Book Fair)
Venue: Brazzaville
Dates: To be confirmed.

Event: Ba re e ne re literary Festival
Venue: Maseru, Lesotho
Dates: To be confirmed.