Daily Trust columnist hosts session on ‘Japa’ at Ake Arts & Book Festival

Daily Trust columnist Abdulkareem Baba Aminu is among the guests for this year’s Ake Arts & Book Festival. The former Daily Trust editor confirmed on his Instagram account that he would be hosting the trio of Abake Adenle, Tunji Lardner and Tamar Nandul to discuss and dissect ‘Japa’, focusing on what it means for the […]

Daily Trust columnist Abdulkareem Baba Aminu is among the guests for this year’s Ake Arts & Book Festival.

The former Daily Trust editor confirmed on his Instagram account that he would be hosting the trio of Abake Adenle, Tunji Lardner and Tamar Nandul to discuss and dissect ‘Japa’, focusing on what it means for the world and most importantly, for Nigeria.

“Thrilled to be part of this crucial conversation (at @akefestival 2022 in Lagos), as consequences of the ‘japa’ phenomenon are already being felt and will continue to be for some time,” he said.

This 10th-anniversary edition of Ake Arts and Books Festival will take place on 24-26 November 2022 and attracts 100 authors, poets, artists, storytellers, dancers, actors, musicians and thinkers from all over the African continent (and beyond) who would converge for three days of cultural immersion.

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The festival features among other events, book readings, panel discussions, poetry recitals, film screenings, theatre and music performances.

According to the organisers, the theme for Ake Arts and Book Festival 2022 is ‘Homecoming.’

“Our African roots influence our art and our creative expression but as we migrate and settle around the globe, these bonds may weaken with time. This makes the ritual of homecoming particularly significant; it is a response to a centripetal force calling us home to experience the regenerative power of our ancestral roots. On 24-26 November 2022, writers, artists, poets, performers, filmmakers and thinkers of African descent will converge in Lagos State for Africa’s biggest literary festival where we shall share stories and ideas and restore our cultural links,” the organisers said in a statement.

The headliner for 2022 edition of Ake Arts & Book Festival is Véronique Tadjo. She is an author, artist, and Honorary Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she lived and taught for several years. An award-winning writer, she was born in Paris and grew up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. She holds a doctorate in Black American literature and civilization from the Sorbonne Paris IV and was a Fulbright scholar at Howard University in Washington, DC.

Her novels have been translated into several languages. Some of her titles in English include: As the Crow flies (2001), The Shadow of Imana (2002), Queen Pokou (2005), Far from my Father (2014), Amour: Fields of Battle, Fields of Love, published by The Massachusetts Review, e-book series (2019). 

In the Company of Men (2021) was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction in April 2022. She shares her time between London, Paris and Abidjan. Ms Tadjo will be interviewed by Ghanaian booklover Kinna Likimani in the Life and Times Event on Saturday, 26 November.