The Ake Arts and Book Festival 2017 was hosted in Abeokuta, Nigera from November 14-17, 2017. The Book Buzz Foundation, the festival organisers, have posted videos from festival guests online.
The Ake Festival 2017 was the fifth edition of the highly regarded literary event in the West African nation. The festival took the theme of The F-Word and with that they had Ama Ata Aidoo as the festival headliner. There were dozens of panels with artists from all over the continent and the diaspora with the F-Word, feminism and not that other thing, being at the centre of it all. So Abeokuta residents and other guests who had come in from all over Nigeria and West Africa got to meet some of the best known leaders in African feminism thinking. The event was considered a huge success and we can only hope that this year’s festival is just as good.
One of the amazing new traditions of the Ake Festival is that as it runs, guests are pulled aside and are asks standard questions and the interviews are then posted on the festival YouTube channel. The Book Buzz Foundation kept this tradition alive as some of the many guests who were at the June 21 Hall for the event proceedings were interviewed. They were asked questions like what panels they had taken part in, their relationship with feminism, their opinions on the festival, and their favourite colour.
The guests who are featured are Amara Nicole Okolo, Dayo Olopade, Diekara Oloruntoba, Emmanuel Iduma, Esther Armah, Henry Bassey, Ifeoma Chukwuogo, Isabella Akinseye, Ishmael Beah, Femi Oyebode, Hannah Azieb Pool, Giles Foden, Kikelomo Woleosho, Leyla Hussein, Nneka Ijeoma, Ojoma Ochai, Maimouna Jallow, Oreva Irri, Tom Illube, Pumla Gqola, Tope Oshin, Yolanda Mercy, and Zukiswa Wanner.
You can watch all the interviews below. You can also see other videos from the festival at the Ake Festival at their official YouTube channel.
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