ZAM Reporter

Aké Arts & Books 2021 | Meet Abdulrazak Gurnah

This year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature will be interviewed online by Ethiopian writer Maaza Mengiste at the upcoming edition of the Nigeria based Aké Festival. The event will take place on 30 October between 17h45 and 18h55 West-African Time.

Read an excerpt from Gurnah novel Desertion here.

Review of his latest novel After Life here.

This year’s Aké Arts & Book Festival 2021 theme is 'Generational Discordance'. Dozens of online sessions with as many writers and opinionistas are planned between 28 and 30 October.

The Ake Festival, a partner of ZAM, has been running in Nigeria since 2012 and was launched by writer Lola Shoneyin. She is one of the driving forces behind the country’s and continent’s literary renaissance.Her groundbreaking novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is currently being dramatised for Netflix.

Lovers of books and the arts attend readings, panel discussions, poetry recitals, film screenings, theatre and music performances and more. Aké hosted many of the continent’s top writers including eminent personalities like Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nuruddin Farah, Maryse Condé, and Tsitsi Dangarembga. The festival will be hosted in Lagos.

All information about the programme of the festival on social: @akefestival