First Hausa International Book and Arts Festival begins; Catch all the Scoop here
Hausa International Book and Arts Festival is curated by Open Arts. The maiden edition runs from 21st October to 23rd October, 2021.
It is literary festivals season, which translates to one of the best times for literary enthusiasts. Literary festivals are important for many reasons. It is an opportunity for readers to meet their favorite authors and interact with them; for important conversations surrounding literature and the society to be held; for writers to boost their book sales and increase their visibility; for the sheer entertainment that lit fests are; and much more.
Recently in the Nigerian literary space, there has been a commendable increase in the number of festivals emanating from the country. Besides the famous and highly acclaimed Nigerian lit fests, like Ake Arts and Book Festival, Lagos Book and Arts Festival, Abuja Literary Festival, Port Harcourt Book Festival, Lagos International Poetry Festival, in 2017, Kaduna Book and Arts Festival debuted, inspiring a number of states particularly within northern Nigeria to have their own festivals in the following years. Like the 2018-debuted Minna Book and Arts Festival, 2019-debuted Katsina Book and Arts Festival, 2021-debuted Sokoto Book and Arts Festival, 2021-debuted Yobe Book and Arts Festival, among others.
Now joining the growing list is the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival.
Hausa International Book and Arts Festival or just HIBAF is curated by Open Arts —a literary platform in Kaduna, Nigeria. Founder of Open Arts, Sada Malumfashi, in an interview with Book O'clock, said, "HIBAF stemmed from the need to provide adequate representation for the booming Hausa literary field in the global conversation about books and literature."
“We hope the festival will serve as a melting point, for the celebration of language not just in northern Nigeria but across Africa and re-affirming the literary merit of writers in Hausa,” he added.
Its maiden edition themed "Spaces" is both a virtual and an in-person event. The virtual event started yesterday, 20th October and featured two panel discussions. The first on the Language of African Literature and moderated by Nigerian writer, editor and publisher, Richard Ali; the second on Gender, Narrative & Hausa Literature, moderated by Dr. Carmen McCain. The main event begins today, 21st October and will endure until the 23rd of October. Venue: Arewa House, Kaduna, Nigeria. It will feature a number of activities ranging from book chats to poetry performances to music to more panel discussions to plays and much more.
What To Expect At HIBAF21 Main Event
The thrill of lit fests is the lineup of activities and HIBAF doesn’t fall short of that with its fully packed event. See the lineup below.
Day 1: Thursday, 21st October, 2021
Day 1 which begins by 10AM today opens with a welcome ceremony then advances to poetry performances in Hausa. A keynote speech by the organisers and sponsors follows, then a storytelling performance, a Hausa traditional music performance, a durbar procession, more cultural displays and then the first phase ends with the awarding of a lifetime achievement award to Umaru Danjuma Katsina for his work in literature and the advancement of Hausa culture and stories.
The second phase follows immediately with the first panel discussion of the day. A panel moderated by Prof. Ibrahim Malumfashi on Hausa Language and Identity and features two others as panelists: Prof. Abdalla Una Adamu and Kachallan Kano Magaji Galadima. The panel hopes to discuss the identity of the Hausa people pre-Islam / Christianity.
After the first panel, everyone goes on an hour lunch break between 1PM - 2PM and then returns to yet another panel discussion. This time on The Next Generation Hausa Writers. It will be moderated by Nigerian writer, Khalid Imam and will feature Maryam Sokoto, Fatima Hussaini El-Ladan and Salim Yunusa as panelists. The panel hopes to answer who the next generation Hausa writers are and what they are writing.
What follows immediately is a dialogue between Muhammad Malumfashi and Yahaya Makaho. A ‘poetrylogue’ on blind Hausa poets and will be laced with musical poetry from the blind genius poet, Yahaya Makaho.
The third panel of the day begins after a short break. Moderated by Dima Chami, it will discuss Arts Management and Literary Activism in Northern Nigeria. The panel features representatives of some of top literary platforms in the north. BM Dzukogi of Hilltop Creative Arts, Sumayya Ja’eh of Open Arts, Salim Yunusa of Poetic Wednesdays and Halima Aliyu of Ayamba Litcast.
The final panel discussion of the day would follow closely. It will discuss the Hausa film and cinema industry. The moderator will be Bilkisu Yusuf Ali while Sani Liyaliya and Maryam Abubakar Abdullahi join in as panelists.
To end the first day, will be a film screening of “Salihu Umar” an adaptation of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa’s novel of the same title. The adaptation is directed by Adamu Halilu.
Day 2: Friday, 22nd October, 2021
Day 2 begins with a film screening of Unseen, a Hausa/English film directed by Priscilla Victor and Neemah Musa and produced by Paged Initiative.
Afterwards, the first panel of the day begins. A Hausa panel discussion on Women Writing Women. Moderated by Fauziyya Tukur, it will feature Rahma Majid, Halima Ahmad Matazu and Halima Ahmad as panelists.
The second panel of day 2 follows immediately. A discussion on Hausa Novel Writing, which would look at the areas of development from 1927– 2021. It will be moderated by Bashir Abusable and the panelists will be: Rahma Majid, Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, and Balaraba Ramat Yakubu.
Post-jummah prayers, day 2 continues with a booklogue on It Can Now Be Told by Dadasare Abdullahi. Hassana Maina will be moderating this session and will feature Aliyah Adamu and Prof. Ibrahim Malumfashi as panelists. It Can Now Be Told is an autobiography of the first female writer in colonial northern Nigeria.
Another panel discussion follows after a break. A discussion in Hausa about Writing Northern Nigeria in English. The panel will feature Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, author of Season of Crimson Blossoms and others, Hadiza Isma El-Rufai, author of An Abundance of Scorpions and Richard Ali, author of City of Memories.
The screening of a documentary, Where is Dadiyata? follows immediately. 2nd August, 2019, Dadiyata, a critic of the government went missing. To date, he hasn’t been found. This documentary discusses the mysterious Dadiyata case.
After the screening, the final panel discussion of day 2 begins. It is on a timely topic, Northern Nigeria: The Cost of Peace. Moderated by Hamza Ibrahim Baba; Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Hassana Maina, Suleiman Usman Yusuf and Samuel Aruwan will be the panelists.
Day 2 closes with a poetry and music night begining 7PM. Some of the performers include Farfesan Waka, Sagir Mato, Qalbsaleem, Aminu Abubakar, Bilkisu Tambuwal, Mai Gurmi Hussain, Mustapha Yandaki, Abdulbasit Adamu.
Day 3: Saturday, 23rd October, 2021
Day 3 and the final day of the first Hausa International Book and Arts Festival will feature a Hausa creative writing workshop faciltated by Rahma Sherif Abdul Majid and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim. Selected participants will be workshopped on creative writing in Hausa. See below for the profile of the facilitators.
The festival draws the curtain with a private session on “exploring the contours of literary activism in northern Nigeria”. The session will be faciltated by University of Bristol, the major sponsors of the festival and Open Arts, the curators of HIBAF.
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Tickets for the first Hausa International Book and Arts Festival are still on sale and can be gotten at the festival site, Arewa House, Kaduna. Don’t miss this!
