The Abeokuta based literary festival came back for its fifth instalment, but it wasn't as amazing as it was touted to be.
When revered journalist Kadaria Ahmed rounded off her book chat with Helon Habila and Teju Cole in the 2016 Ake festival, everybody present in the cinema hall of the June 12 Cultural Center Abeokuta erupted into cheers. Volunteers and technical staff for the Ake festival had left their duty posts to clap and this round of applause lasted for well over two minutes.
Festival Experience.
It had been an hour of back and forth with punch-lines, subliminal messages and outright dragging. The chat was as entertaining as it was educative. Visitors and festival guests formed a queue outside the cinema hall to have a brief word or an autograph or selfie with the panelists.
That panel was the summation of the Ake festival experience; a spiritual exhilaration that left attendees exhilarated with electric current flowing through the t had been an experience; the spiritual experience that Ake was.
I first attended the Ake festival in 2015 with two other friends. The festival center and festival was everything I had hoped it would be and even better - unashamedly black people basking and proud of their blackness, young and obscure writers like myself scurrying around to the next place just to get a literary education, Caucasians clad in African prints chattering away “Lola a fait incroyable avec ce festival” every time they congregated as they always did - notepad in hand and Ake tote by their sides.
But beyond the aesthetics of it, Ake was designed to be an immersive experience especially through discussions that were specially curated for learning, relearning and unlearning. The congregation of E.C Osondu, Taiye Selasi and Chris Abani in a panel moderated by Ainehi Edoro presented one of the best discussions in African literature in this century.
A spirited talk by Mona Eltahawy in her panel discussion highlighted the problems faced by women in Africa from female oppression in Islamic states to gender based violence. Mona’s talk placed in the middle of an incredible cast and crew made for a festival experience that would not be forgotten easily.
2017 was a grim year that started with gory pictures and stories women abused by past lovers - women raped and beaten. A few of them ended up dead. As the year continued, it got really disgusting. Allegations starting with Harvey Weinstein and settling down on all of Hollywood and even the American Political class with Roy Moore in the forefront of abuse allegations.
With a faulty justice system, a political class that does not care for things like Women's rights and years and years of conditioning based on cultures that repressed women, it seems like the future is gloomy. Abuses still happen and within the African context get to be justified.
While there’s a wave of reeducation going on on social media, the grim reality is that the seemingly elite and educated members of social media does not account for a majority of Nigeria. Nigeria and Africa is largely rural with the level of literary still very low, but we still need to shift these discussions from places of our online comfort to physical spaces with humans that still have negative opinions and ideologies. Especially in places close to present or future policy makers.
Ake 2017 was themed “This F-word” and was intended to focus largely on creative women doing amazing things both on the African continent and beyond. This, it did incredibly well with an impressive lineup of invited guests.
FUCK THE PATRIARCHY!
Mona Eltahawy let out a smirk as she shouted “Fuck the patriarchy” on her panel discussion. 2017 Ake was an inquiry as well as an attempt to answer the questions of why we are not yet a feminist society. “There is the delusion that everything has been solved.
We didn’t reach post feminist world.” Mona said. Mona helped dictate the tempo for the festival with her ferociousness. In a conversation about rape led by Timehin Adegbeye featuring Pulma Gqola, Laure Beaufils, Jude Kelly and Ayodeji Osowobi, a stage was set for the reeducation of the African.
But the festival felt lacking this year in terms of a literary depth. The Ake festival had set for itself a high bar to beat in terms of guests and in the diversity of its talks and panels. An appearance by Ama Ata Aidoo was the crux of the festival this year; last year, it was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
If the Ake festival was intended by the organizers to become the go-to literary event on the continent, in 2016, it showed glimpses that it could be the cultural hub of Africa.
Moving into 2017, it was supposed to take a move forward in terms of literary guest appearances. While the regular suspects like Tony Kan and Dami Ajayi were present, there was a noticeable absence of literary star fire which was one of the greatest appeals of the Ake festival. Helon Habila, Teju Cole and Tendai Huchu were notably missing. Nnedi save for her book launch was rather inconsequential in the festival this year.
Back to a drawing board?
The festivals horizontal movement wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Discussions about feminism and women issues are important and the need for these discussions to exist especially in public spaces cannot be over emphasized. But does this mean the festival is getting repurposed? The Ake festival was not a literary festival this year, instead, it was a purely cultural event. On this front, the festival did well.
While the curation of the movies and concert didn't quite seem top notch, the work put in by the organizers and the volunteer team can’t be washed away. The festival did very well because feminism or even at the barest minimum, a freedom of choice and respect and decency needs to be given to women in Africa and the world. The discussions were important, were concise, but overall the festival was not well rounded.
There will be no boycotts of the festival because it is at this point a religion. Abeokuta becomes a Mecca to literary enthusiasts and appreciators of African art, culture and literature every November gathering visitors and guests both at home and abroad.
As African writers are telling more stories, the Abeokuta based festival is here to stay should move on to greater heights.
Written by Oluwatosin Adeshokan.
Oluwatosin Adeshokan is a freelance journalist and writer that lives and writes from Lagos. Twitter: @theOluwatosin