THE maiden Yenagoa Book & Arts Festival (YEBAF) themed ‘Resilience: How Storytelling Shapes Our Lives’ will be held from September 23 to 26 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Dedicated to two Niger Delta cultural icons, the eminent historian Prof. E.J. Alagoa and the late Dr. Gabriel Okara, the festival will hold concurrently with the 2024 conference of the Network of Book Clubs and Reading Promoters in Nigeria (NBRP) and annual general meeting.
However, the conference’s theme is ‘Loving Books and Securing the Critical Edge in the Running of Book Clubs’.
Festival Director and head of 1402Book Lounge Initiative organising the event, Annette David-West, disclosed that it partners with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education and will feature prominent culture workers nationwide.
David-West, who runs a bookstore and club, said the Secretary to Bayelsa State Government, Professor NimibofaAyawei, will speak on the theme of YEBAF at the opening.
She added that the festival prides itself as a showpiece of the Niger Delta that will stimulate cultural activities in a region known for its vast oil wealth, rich mangrove forests, network of creeks and waterways and sundry aquatic life.
Leading the pack of national culture workers that will join their Bayelsa counterparts to give a fillip to the festival are Jahman Anikulapo and Toyin Akinosho of the Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF), stage and screen actor, Bimbo Manuel, poet, Chijoke Amu-Nnadi, and BBC Igbo Senior Correspondent, Mazi Nwonwu.
Others are poet and author of ‘The Strange Moon of Yenagoa’, Samuel Osaze, culture journalist and author Anote Ajeluorou and Othuke Ominiabohs of Masobe Books, who will speak on book publishing in a volatile economy.
Anikulapo will be the session chair at the NBRP conference on book clubs. At the same time, Bayelsa-based writer Josef NengiIlagha will speak on the theme ‘Loving Books and Securing the Critical Edge in the Running of Book Clubs’. The book club’s president, Richard Mammah, will superintend conference activities and the annual general meeting.
Commenting further about YEBAF’s objectives, the Festival Director, David-West, said it is “designed to position Bayelsa State, and the entire Niger Delta on the forefront of cultural destination. It is a unique cultural festival that deals with books and all cultural expressions in the hugely talented Niger Delta and Bayelsa State specifically. The festival will allow young and old writers and other artists, including filmmakers, visual artists, theatre practitioners, musicians and dancers, to showcase their works in an environment of friendliness, interaction and networking among local and international cultural workers.”
She added, “The aim is for young minds to identify their role models from among the spectrum of talented and experienced festival guests and model their lifestyles after them.”
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