Sterling romance with Ake Books and Arts Festival

Sterling Bank Plc, Nigeria, recently, reiterated its commitment to supporting the yearly Ake Books and Arts Festival, because it sees Nigeria as part of a larger world and believes the country’s ultimate competitiveness lies in its energy.

Odubiyi said: “Nigeria enjoys a comparative advantage in the arts and culture domain, and Sterling, being focused on promoting the development of human capital and improving national competitiveness, is thrilled to have been a part of the festival for the past six years and plans to continue to do so.”
 
Aside from panel sessions, which explored different aspects of the festival’s theme, which was Homecoming, Ake Festival also hosted Directors of Global Association of Literary Festivals.

Some of the sessions focused on why home exerts a pull on people, how it stirs their creative impulses, influences creative expressions, evokes profound sentiments and shapes human perception of the outside world.
 
Others explored the impact of conflict, capitalism and climate disasters as well as what it means to be displaced, to live away from home and, of course, to return. The festival also featured book discussions on the idea of a home and how, for some people, the home might not be a place of safety, but a place of violence, among others.

Founder and Director of Ake Books and Arts Festival, Lola Shoneyin, said,
“Homecoming was chosen as theme because, “we were going back to Abeokuta where it all began, and it was time to reconnect with our ancestral roots. The main reason, Homecoming, was so perfect is that we couldn’t wait to have you back at Ake after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
 
She said, after two years of lockdown and online festivals, the festival is back again as participants could mingle, catch up on news and strengthen their friendships.
 
The Founder said the priority has always been to ensure that guests feel at home since the very first edition of the Ake Festival. Consequently, during this year’s edition of Ake Review, guests were asked to express what home means to them, and the common responses were: A place of love; friendship and a sense of belonging, she said.
 
Shoneyin thanked the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature, Professor Abdulrazaq Gurnah and his wife, Professor Denise Gurnah for honoring the invitation to attend the festival in person. She also thanked the headliner of this year’s festival, Professor Veronique Tadjo, for finding time to be a part of the festival.