By Michael Dibie
It was a avenue for cultural mix and safe space for poets, dreamers, researchers and adventurers as the city of Abuja held the inaugural edition of Abuja International poetry Festival.
The three days event organized by “Nasara Creative* draws on hope and the possibilities of an important cultural platform with partnerships from *The African School of Economics, Abuja Literary Society amongst others.
It was an unforgettable celebration of poetry, culture and creativity as some creative minds gather in the city of Abuja for the first edition of Abuja poetry festival.
This year’s festival, with a working *Theme: “Afro Futurism and Digital Culture” celebrate, the meaning and measure of what it means to be an African Poet in the matrix of a digital revolution.
Founder of the event, Bash Amuneni said literary show was to fill the need for an expression of art by younger writers and poet in the city of Abuja and environs to express themselves. Adding that it is important for tourism, cultural growth, literature and general integration.
“We are just trying to bridge Africa knowledge and experience, Africa culture and the future, so this is Africa, where do you want to go and how can we use AI to make that journey better,” he said.
“Afro Futurism in terms of where are we going with our Art? The future of our art, what is poetry going to look like in a cople of years from now in the new face and place of technology and digital advancement.” Said Orewa Olujimi, Festival Director.
The event which had a physical and virtual audience featured presentation from established and emerging poets from across the world through Knowledge Diffusion Sessions, Poetry Master-classes, Climate change walk. and various creative works.
“The talk show about Afro futurism and digital culture and I found it very interesting because and it talked about embracing our languages because Africa basically had technology before Europe and many other continents,” said Chi Martins Azubuike, Poet.
Another poet, Soonest Nathaniel said they have been able to get their jobs published abroad due to digital tech.
“Digital tech is a blessing right now because there are so many things we wouldn’t have done traditionally here but we are able to do through digital tech especially when it comes to publishing. So there are so many publishing avenue right now that the digital space avails us and ordinarily people wouldn’t have been able to publish more from Africa continent, “ he added.
Nathaniel also reiterated that Language is a vital identity in creative writing or works of art as a means of communicating perfectly, hence very pertinent for a writer.
“Repositioning the African, redefining his place in the future and if that has to be done, then our language cannot be lost, we are working with the language of the colonizer and as much as we have come to accept it as our reality. So what we are saying is that the language of our fore fathers cannot be lost and if lost, then we lose our heritage, if we lose our identity, then we do not exist.
The literary experience provided an opportunity to learn more about Africa poetry and creating relevant cultural market access for young poets.
