Abuja will host the inaugural Abuja Festival of Literature and Ideas (AFLI) from October 9 to 10, bringing writers, thinkers, and cultural voices together for two days of literary and intellectual conversations.
Organised by the Book Buzz Foundation, the festival will be held at Nordic Hotel, Jabi, Abuja, in partnership with the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with the participation of the embassies of Italy, Spain, and Sweden.
The programme will feature five events each day, with discussions covering literature, peace, technology, science, culture, democracy, and public life.
“We wanted a serious festival with some very accomplished intellectuals, and we were just certain that that is the kind of event that Abuja benefits from,” Book Buzz Foundation founder, Lola Shoneyin, said.
Among the international guests is Sergio Jaramillo, former High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia and principal architect of the Colombia Peace Process. He will feature in ‘Improbable dialogues: How divided societies learn to speak again’, a conversation on conflict, listening, trust, and reconciliation.
Zimbabwean writer and academic Tsitsi Dangarembga will discuss her memoir, Tasting Freedom, which explores family, colonialism, race, migration, and freedom.
The festival will also examine the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and creative work, with Stéphane Guéssot scheduled to lead a conversation on authorship, intellectual property, privacy, artistic labour and the future of human creativity.
Other sessions will focus on Northern Nigerian women’s literature and desire, the future of Northern Nigeria, the internet and its changing role in society, science and imagination, as well as poetry.
The poetry programme will feature Deborah Johnson, Muyosola Ololuwo, Salih Gimaza and Mariam Abubakar, while a youth-focused format will invite young participants to respond to questions about the future of Northern Nigeria.
Shoneyin said the festival was conceived to place books and writers at the centre of conversations about issues affecting society.
“For me, as the director of the Book Buzz Foundation, Abuja should be part of the global conversation around literature, ideas and culture,” she said.
The organisers said AFLI is also intended to strengthen cultural connections between Nigeria, Europe and the wider world, while establishing Abuja as a destination for literary and intellectual exchange.
The two-day festival will therefore bring together literature and wider public questions, allowing audiences to engage with writers, thinkers and practitioners across different fields.
