The poet and essayist Odia Ofeimum has agreed to deliver the keynote address at the 20th edition of the Lagos Book and Art Festival LABAF, running from November 5 to 11, 2018.
The distinguished polemicist is impressed by the theme: Renewal: A World That Works For All, which was chosen by the organisers to reset the agenda for a democracy turning 20 in eight monthsโ time and a country heading for its sixth, consecutive general elections.
โRenewal should also be about renewing surprisesโ, Mr. Ofeimum said in Lagos last week, hinting at the content of his proposed address: โLet us surprise ourselves with the value of ageless truths and programmatics.โ
Ofeimum is the author of many volumes of poetry, books of political essays and on cultural politics, and the editor of two significant anthologies of Nigerian poetry. His work has been widely anthologized and translated and he has read and performed his poetry internationally.
Jahman Anikulapo, programme chair of the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), organisers of LABAF, says that the choice of Odia Ofeimum as the Festivalโs keynoter was informed by the โtoneโ of his body of work. โHe is the one Public Intellectual who has been quite consistent in advocating for a new system, new nation that will work for all in the endโ. Anikulapo adds that the speech will give Mr. Ofeimum โyet another opportunity to speak to the subject that he has been very passionate aboutโ.
LABAF was birthed in September 1999, as Nigeria returned to civil rule after 16 years of military dictatorship. Its first theme: Read to Freedom, was to call attention to literacy as a way out of mass poverty and underdevelopment. Over the years it has evolved. Now it is a comprehensive seven-day cultural picnic including readings sessions, conversations around books, art and craft displays, kiddiesโ art workshops, teenagersโ reviews, book exhibitions, poetry slam, live music and dance. There are Publisherโs Forum, Writersโ workshops and Book Treks. Overall, it is a carnivalesque atmosphere created to make books look cool.
Two weeks ago, the organisers unveiled a list of some of the books to be discussed at this yearโs edition, including Lee Kuan Yewโs Singapore: From Third World to First, Kingsley Moghaluโs Build, Innovate and Grow: My Vision for our Country and Emerging Africa, How the Global Economyโs โLast Frontierโ Can Prosper and Matter, Obafemi Awolowoโs The Strategy and Tactics of the Peopleโs Republic of Nigeria, Helen Zilleโs Not Without A Fight, Chude Jideonwoโs Are We The Turning Point Generation? โ Akin Mabogunjeโs A Measure of Grace, Titus Okerekeโs Our Fathersโ Land by โ Bookcraft. Sarah Manyikaโs Like a Mule Bringing Ice-Cream to the Sun, Julian Zelizerโs The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society. โThis list is not exhaustiveโ, says Anikulapo, โthere are more, to cover the seven panel conversations in the course of the Festival. People are going through the books now to come and discuss them. We are energised that Oga Odia will kickstart those conversationsโ.