The programme for NBO LitFest 2024, brought to you by Book Bunk and the Hay Festival Global, running in Nairobi, Kenya from June 27 – 30 has been announced.
In 2021 Nairobi-based Book Bunk hosted NBO LitFest, a virtual festival anchored in Nairobi’s public libraries with stories and ideas emerging from Nairobi and other regional spaces. Designed as a celebration of public libraries as spaces for art, culture, and knowledge production, it featured virtual concerts, live storytelling, and writers in conversation. It had another successful edition in 2023.
In March, NBO LitFest organisers Book Bunk announced they had signed a partnership with Hay Festival Global reminiscent of one done by Storymoja Festival in 2008. The new partnership, supported by the British Council, is aimed at increasing their international presence and expanding their audience reach. Just like last year, the festival will be hosted at the MacMillan Memorial Library and the Kaloleni Library.
This partnership is bearing fruit if the list of the literary stars, journalists, and other professionals from Brazil, the UK, DR Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Kenya set to appear on NBO LitFest stages is any indication. Some of the featured guests will be Bernardine Evaristo, Mia Couto, Aminatta Forna, David Olusoga, Shafinaaz Hassim, Taiye Selasi, Richard Ali A Mutu, Djamila Ribeiro, Stanley Gazemba, Mshai Mwangola, Ndinda Kioko, Nombeko Nontshokweni, Deborah Tendo, Edwin Omindo, Otieno Owino, Mercy Juma, Amitav Ghosh, Elizabeth Wathuti, Joumana Haddad, Kedolwa Waziri, Nesrine Malik, Edwige-Renee Dro, Prof Kimani Njogu, Chidi Nwaubani, Mumo Liku, Abdi Latif Dahir, Ibrahima Balde, Amets Arzallus, Sihle-isipho Nontshokweni, Kamwathi Peterson Waweru, Adania Shibli, Sevgil Musaieva, Ayisha Osori, Edith Kimani, Nguru Karugu, Sarah Waiswa, Ngartia Bryan, Beverly Ochieng, Justine Wanda, Swiry Nyar Kano, Astar Njau, Anyiko Owoko, Chidi Nwaubani, Wanjiru Koinange, Angela Wachuka, Alex Gakuru, Naddya Adhiambo Oluoch-Olunya, Cristina Fuentes La Roche, Brenda Wambui, Zakaria Ibrahimi, Cyrine Ghannouchi, John Lee Anderson and Sevgil Musaeva.
NBO Litfest programme, co-presented with @hayfestival is out! https://t.co/XogawQkry1
30 sessions: masterclasses, panel discussions, art performances and a children’s day!
Follow @nbolitfest for all things #NBOLitfest!
Supported by @BritishCouncil @FordFoundation @OpenSociety pic.twitter.com/H6QXWuRIjm— BookBunk (@TheBookBunk) June 1, 2024
Those who attend the festival will be treated to panels, readings, poetry performances, concerts, and a film screening, There will be a children’s festival on Friday and a children’s corner for the whole time the festival runs. The masterclasses will be conducted by Bernardine Evaristo (fiction), Shafinaaz Hassim (Young Adult Fiction), as well as BBC East Africa Correspondent Mercy Juma and BBC Monitoring’s Africa Specialist Beverly Ochieng (Non-Fiction/Reportage). Imagine doing your fiction masterclass with Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo; not everyone gets that opportunity.
If you have an interest in the written word and are in the general Nairobi area, we recommend you mark this event in your calendar. It promises to be one of the biggest ones in many a year. For the full programme, please click here.
