Amanze Chinonye
The Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), Nigeria’s frontline art and culture advocacy group, has announced details for the 2025 edition of its flagship event, the Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF) scheduled to hold from November 10 to 16 at Freedom Park, Lagos Island, and the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, Onikan.
The week-long festival, now in its 27th year, will explore the theme “Change: Imagining Alternatives,” reflecting a collective desire to reimagine pathways to progress in Nigeria and the global community.
Speaking on the festival’s focus, CORA’s Programme Chair and Festival Director, Jahman Anikulapo, said the 2025 edition is inspired by the need to “encourage new processes to transform our society into a productive, knowledge-driven economy” amid prevailing social and political challenges.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“Can we all, through books, imagine a world of better possibilities?” Anikulapo asked, adding that LABAF 2025 will spotlight novels, nonfiction works, and dramas where hope, resilience, and the will to win are central themes.
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62 Events of Literary, Artistic and Cultural Exchange
This year’s festival will feature 62 events, including 12 plenary sessions on politics, culture, and society; four sessions on Literature in the Digital Age (exploring AI and new technologies); 10 BookTreks covering fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction; and five visual arts exhibitions.
Other highlights include a two-day Green Festival (Nov. 14–15), Open Mic sessions, Poetry competitions, CORA Youth Creative Clubs, drama and dance performances, film screenings, and two literary parties.
The festival’s core mission, literacy advocacy through the arts remains central. According to the organisers, LABAF’s diverse programming aims to “educate, enlighten, and empower citizens to participate in nation-building through artistic engagement.”
An Open-Air, Free-Access Festival
Since its inception in 1999, LABAF has maintained an open-air and free-access format, with no gate fees for participants. “The festival was conceived as CORA’s contribution to the spread of literacy towards boosting the nation’s human capital,” Anikulapo explained.
Partnerships and Collaborations
CORA revealed that about 40 percent of the festival’s events will be hosted by partner organisations, including Freedom Park, which has served as the home of LABAF for 15 years; Children and the Environment (CATE), organisers of the Green Festival; and Events by Nature, anchors of the CORA Youth Creative Club.
Other collaborators include the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), PEN Nigeria, NANTAP, SONTA, Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), and the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), as well as several individual artists such as performance artist Jelili Atiku.
The 2025 edition also welcomes a new partnership with the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, a fast-growing cultural hub in Lagos.
Youth-Led Operation
LABAF’s operations are largely driven by young Nigerians under the CORA Volunteers Corps, made up of fresh graduates and undergraduates supervised by a governance board chaired by poet and art patron Chief Kayode Aderinokun, with CORA co-founder Toyin Akinosho as Secretary-General.
Sustaining a Literacy Movement
While the festival runs mainly on contributions from partners, it also enjoys support from corporate bodies and institutions such as the Hawthornden Foundation, which funds the CORA BookTreks.
Founded in 1999, LABAF has evolved into a major platform for intellectual and artistic engagement, a “feast of ideas and life” dedicated to promoting literacy as a tool for education, enlightenment, and empowerment.
Amanze Chinonye is a Staff Correspondent at Prime Business Africa, a rising star in the literary world, weaving captivating stories that transport readers to the vibrant landscapes of Nigeria and the rest of Africa. With a unique voice that blends with the newspaper's tradition and style, Chinonye's writing is a masterful exploration of the human condition, delving into themes of identity, culture, and social justice. Through her words, Chinonye paints vivid portraits of everyday African life, from the bustling markets of Nigeria's Lagos to the quiet villages of South Africa's countryside . With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the complexities of Nigerian society, Chinonye's writing is both a testament to the country's rich cultural heritage and a powerful call to action for a brighter future. As a writer, Chinonye is a true storyteller, using her dexterity to educate, inspire, and uplift readers around the world.
