By Yemi Adebisi
The Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) has declared 2014 ‘The Soyinka Year’ and proclaimed the theme of this year’s edition of the Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) as ‘Freedom &The Word’.
CORA asserts that these two go well together.
“Soyinka has worked towards the unshackling of our freedom of expression for all these years and in the year of the 25th anniversary of the Fall of The Berlin Wall; 20th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy and the 15th year of Nigeria’s end to military rule, it is fitting to honour a landmark birthday of a man whose life-long career irrepressibly dotes on concern about human Freedom(s) with a year-long programme that interrogates our quest for freedom, especially through the letters.”
A communique signed by CORA Secretary-General, Toyin Akinosho, and Programme Chairman, Jahman Anikulapo, stated that every programme of CORA in 2014, including the Art Stampede, the quarterly conversation on the state of the arts and the administration of culture; the Arthouse Forum, periodic symposium on interface between the lives/work of a distinguished culture producer and the social environment, the Booktrek, CORA’s outreach intervention focused on youth education as well as the Lagos Book And Art Festival, an annual feast of celebration of the written word, and contribution to turning Nigeria’s teeming masses into true human capital, shall reflect this honour.
The Lagos Book and Art Festival 2014, which is the 16th edition, will run from November 14 to 16 at the Freedom Park, on Broad Street. Pre-Festival events, including the yearly Publishers’ Forum, Workshop for Young Writers and Publishers, as well as finale of the Book Trek, start on Monday November 10 and round up on November 13.
The festival features readings and conversations around books, art and craft displays, children’s 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.
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