Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF) is organizing its 18th edition in Lagos. LABAF is a four day culture picnic primed to attract families and a public that seeks cultural entertainment. The first edition of LABAF was held in 1999, the festival has since grown to be a world class – albeit home-grown – cultural event that has since become a highpoint in the nation’s cultural calendar. Organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), LABAF is CORA’s homage to the written word.

The theme for this year’s edition is THE TERROR OF KNOWLEDGE. Through this, the organizers hope to address rising extremism against acquisition of knowledge and development of the mind.

Its inspiration is derived from the immortal words of the Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka that:

“Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth”

 

Pre-Festival events are scheduled to take place in several venues in town, in the four days leading to the Festival, showering Lagos with a week-long fun filled activity focused on The Book.

The festival is a comprehensive, four-day programme of events; readings and conversations around books, art and craft displays, kiddies’ art workshops and reading sessions, book exhibitions, live music and theatre performance, capacity building workshops and exhibitions, and critical seminars for different sectors of the creative industries.

It will run from November 10 to 13 at Freedom Park (old colonial prison site) on Broad Street, Lagos Island.

 This year, the festival is structured to have:

• 31 Books of the Festival
• 1 book trek at British Council, Ikoyi
• 1 pre-festival cocktail to open the festival
• 1 Publishers’ Forum 10am on Thursday @ Goethe Institut, Lagos
• 1 Visual Art Exhibition
• 1 Festival Colloquium
• 1 Festival Conversation
• 10 book events
• 11 Children’s’ workshops
• 3 workshops for teachers
• 2 festival plays
• 3 Music concerts / art parties (one hip-hop, one jazz, one high-life)
• A total of 35 events

For more information, kindly visit www.lagosbookartfestival.org.

Other social media pages include: www.coraartfoundation.com; Twitter:  labaf1; https://www.facebook.com/LagosBookArtFestival/?fref=ts

SNAPSHOTS FROM PAST LABAF