What It Means to Attend Aké Festival
The Aké Arts & Book Festival is drawing young people from across Nigeria and the African diaspora, fostering connections, and inspiring a vibrant culture of literary growth and creativity.
The first time I attended the Aké Arts & Book Festival, fittingly called Aké, was in 2022, when I was a third-year English Language Education student at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria. I was, like most of my peers, struggling—and possibly failing—to keep up with the fierce demands of my third year in the university. As always, there were recommended texts and literary theories vying for space in my already overstuffed brain and limited time. It was during this academically challenging period, while preparing for exams, that I travelled from Ogun State to Lagos State to attend the festival. As a struggling student, affording the ticket and transportation costs was impossible. However, thanks to Aké’s Diversity Inclusivity Grant—which covered the ticket and provided a ₦10,000 book token—I was able to attend my first Aké Festival.
Two years later, with no urgent exams looming or boredom-inducing texts to read, I attended the 2024 edition of the festival. On my way home on the second day of the festival, I chanced upon Somkenechukwu Okeke on a bus. As he enthusiastically shared his experience of travelling from Osun State to attend the festival, I was reminded of my own journey in 2022. As Okeke briefly recounted his journey, his palpable enthusiasm and the quest of young Nigerians like him for knowledge and community stood out. Reflecting on Okeke’s words and my 2022 experience, I decided to speak with other young Nigerian writers and readers who had travelled from outside Lagos to attend the 2024 Aké Arts & Book Festival...
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