Rudy Francisco, Titilope Sonuga, Others, for LIPFest 2022

In the last eight years the Lagos International Poetry Festival has brought some of the biggest poets, spoken word artists, writers, artists and thinkers from across the world to Lagos for a four-day feast of words, ideas and entertainment, establishing itself as one the continent’s biggest art and culture highlights. This year the festival returns from the 27^th to the 31^st of October, beginning with an opening cocktail and evening of performances at Terra Kulture.

Billed for this year’s series of events, which has the theme, Babel… A New Language, are renowned American spoken word artist, Rudy Francisco, Nigerian-Canadian spoken word sensation Titilope Sonuga, Mukoma Ngugi, writer, poet and son of literary icon Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Raymond Antrobus, Dike Chukwumerije, and others.

According to the organizers, this year’s festival centers “the mother-tongue and the ongoing reclamation of default languages from the rubble of colonialism” It draws participants from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, the US, Australia, India, Scotland, England, and others, as they take us beneath the skin of their tongues.

Events lined up include an opening cocktail and performance at Terra Kulture on the 27th, followed by a keynote panel featuring Mukoma Ngugi, Raymond Antrobus, Aja Monet, and Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún. The festival moves to the British Council grounds in Ikoyi on the 28^th

of October for two back-to-back performances, Africa Aloud, an evening of African poetry featuring poets from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya, and American Slang, featuring performances from top American poets and spoken word artists. Proceedings move back to Terra Kulture on the 29th for a one million naira winner takes all poetry slam, followed by the festivals command performance, headlined by wave-making afrobeats musician Fave.

LIPFest closes on the 30^th of October at the British Council with a mashup party of music, poetry and dance, hosted by British raver and poet, Debris Stevenson.

The Lagos International Poetry Festival seeks to build a global platform for developing and showcasing artists and creators across Nigeria and Africa, create an environment that allows for creative exchanges, connections and collaborations between writers, poets and artists from across the continent with the rest of the world, and help build systems and structures that support growth, particularly for young talents, along the literature and performance art production and distribution value chains.

The events are free and open to the public and more guests and event details can be found on www.lagospoetryfestival.com