Kenyan literary festival NBO LitFest, founded by Book Bunk, has signed a partnership with Hay Festival Global on Thursday, February 29, 2024. It will run in Nairobi from June 27 – 30, 2024.
NBO LitFest, founded and administrated by Book Bunk, is anchored in Nairobi’s public libraries with stories and ideas emerging from Nairobi and other regional spaces. Designed as a celebration of public libraries as spaces for art, culture, and knowledge production, it features concerts, live storytelling, and writers in conversation. It was hosted virtually in 2021 and physically in 2023.
On Thursday, Book Bunk announced that they had signed a new partnership to co-host NBO LitFest with the UK-based Hay Festival Global. They are hoping it will increase their international presence and expand their audience reach. The new partnership is supported by the British Council as part of its Kenya 2025 season, which celebrates creativity and innovation through the arts, culture, and education in the UK and Kenya.
Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said of the new partnership: “As an international charity, we reach millions of people every year through our one-of-a-kind Festivals, Forums, programmes, and digital platforms. We are delighted to partner with Book Bunk as co-hosts of the next NBO LitFest and continue our South-to-South series in new and engaging ways for audiences in Nairobi.”
Wanjiru Koinange, co-founder of Book Bunk, said: “This is an important, exciting collaboration for us and we’re honoured to be able to continue to invite the world to experience our city, its storytelling, and its libraries.”
This is not the first time that the Hay Festival has worked with a Kenyan festival; they partnered with the Storymoja Festival between 2009 and 2014.
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