Editors Note: 

The Ake Book and Arts Festival finished last sunday with quite the bang. Panels by Diana Evans, Nnedi Okorafor and Mona El-hathawy, fantastic discussions of the future and a poetry night that saw prodigies and veterans thrill a captive audience. Ayesha Haruna Attah had the unique opportunity to experience this both as an author and a guest and tells us all about it. 

On the last day of the 2018 Ake Arts & Book Festival, I was a bundle of nerves. It was my turn to talk about my book, The Hundred Wells of Salaga. My reasons to be anxious: this was a formidable crowd of beautiful minds, and two, this was Lagos. Lagos people don’t play. Lagos people cannot be easily fooled. I had to bring my A-game.

RELATED: Ghost stories is coming to Linda Ikeji TV

I sat on a panel moderated by Kinna Likimani with Diana Evans, reading from her book, Ordinary People, and we talked motherhood and the spaces women have occupied in literature and history. After the panel, I attended Nnedi Okorafor and Tochi Onyebuchi’s book chat, which drew a full house. Then I shuttled between two panels, because I couldn’t choose. From the panel on the journey of African Literature, Mukoma wa Ngugi’s quote, “The future of Africa’s literature is actually in its past,” stuck with me. In that of the issue of blood, a lively debate broke out on whether pads and other feminine products should be provided by the government. The answer was a resounding yes.

The poetry performance was an exercise in managing our emotions. Some poems had us nodding our heads, m-hmming, and clicking our fingers, while others left no eye dry. Then, there was a running theme of mosquitoes, particularly the West African mosquito, which left us all in stitches. I’ve had an incredible experience at Ake. A big thank you goes out to Lola Shoneyin for bringing together fantastic company, for letting us share our work, and for making sure we stayed hydrated.

Editor