Book Buzz Foundation Announces Inaugural Abuja Festival of Literature and Ideas

Abuja will host its first Festival of Literature and Ideas (AFLI) on October 9 and 10, 2026, at The Nordic Hotel, Jabi. The festival is the realisation of a dream the Book Buzz Foundation Director, Lola Shoneyin, had 14 years ago while curating Infusion, the popular monthly gathering for music, art and culture that ran in Abuja from 2009 to 2012.

The festival will bring together writers, thinkers, scientists, policymakers, artists, and cultural voices from Nigeria and around the world. It reflects a wider ambition to make Abuja a destination for intellectual exchange and to strengthen cultural ties between Nigeria, Europe, and the wider world.

AFLI comes from Lola Shoneyin, a curator with a record of building festivals. Shoneyin’s Aké Arts and Book Festival has grown into one of Africa’s most respected literary gatherings, and has enjoyed great success in Lagos. Northern Nigeria has also shown the appetite for such events through the popularity and influence of Kaduna Books and Arts Festival (KABAFEST) during Nasir El-Rufai’s tenure as governor. Its lapse under the current administration left a gap in the region’s literary calendar, and AFLI now gives the nation’s capital a festival of its own.

The festival is presented in partnership with the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, with participation from the Embassies of Italy, Spain, and Sweden. These missions have helped bring an exceptional line-up of international guests, in a programme spanning literature, politics, technology, science, and public life.

Among them is Sergio Jaramillo, former High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia and a principal architect of the Colombian peace process, who presents How Divided Societies Learn to Dialogue. He will explore what becomes possible when people on opposite sides of a conflict learn to listen, negotiate, and rebuild trust. Zimbabwean writer and academic Simukai Chigudu discusses his acclaimed memoir Chasing Freedom, on family, colonialism, race, migration, and the complicated meaning of freedom after empire. Roberto Trotta brings science and imagination together in Starborn, while Gloria Chinyere Okwu discusses On Close Examination, her account of survival, womanhood, illness, and reclaiming personal agency.

The festival will also take on one of the defining debates of our time. Stephane M. Grueso will examine the impact of artificial intelligence on culture and creative work. Swedish speaker Carl Heath will lead Musings on the Internet, a session on what AI means for authorship, intellectual property, privacy, artistic labour, and the future of human creativity. Shoneyin believes the conversation is overdue in Nigeria. “Nigerians need to start having serious conversations about how AI could affect critical sectors, including banking, business, and personal security, while considering appropriate regulations and safeguards,” she said. “We need to understand what kind of regulation is needed, and we need to know where to start should we find ourselves in difficult situations.” She added that AI’s rapid development means its risks can no longer be treated as distant concerns, as the technology becomes part of everyday life.

AFLI also turns its attention to the north. The panel Exciting Themes in New Northern Nigerian Women’s Fiction features Nana Sule, Hadiza Isma El-Rufai, Fatima Bala, and Edify Yakusak. The Youth Speak session asks what the future holds for young people in the region, and it features Khadija Sanusi, Maryam Laushi Dasilva, Raymond J. Yusuff, Usman Hayatu, and Nana Fatima Bello. The programme closes with an evening of poetry featuring Deborah Johnson, Moyosola Olowookere, Salim Yunusa, and Mariam Abdullahi.

More than a promotional event, AFLI is an invitation to reimagine books as dynamic agents of cultural and educational transformation in the nation’s capital.