Quramo Returns With Quramo Festival Of Words

Publishing group, Quramo announces the return of the annual Quramo Festival of Words (QFEST), a three-day art and literary festival. The event which is themed ‘Africa Positive’ is scheduled for Friday, 7 October to Sunday, 9 October, at the Grand Ballroom of the Eko Hotels & Suites. 

This year, the festival is dedicated to every writer, author, singer, poet, performer, artist, curator, producer, and director, representing us worldwide. The festival will drive the gathering of Nigeria’s literary, performing, creative and fine arts industry, adopting a conversational approach. The highlights include masterclasses/workshops, panel discussions, book/author chats, a poetry contest, film screenings, a stage play, and the Quramo Writers’ Prize, with appearances by Bolanle Austen-Peters, TaymieB (of Cool FM), Jola Ayeye, FK Abudu, Jude Idada, and brand showcases from Puma, Anfani, Toriara Naturals and so much more.

The theme, ‘Africa Positive’ was chosen because it’s about time Africa started documenting, celebrating and reporting stories of our contribution to the global creative economy as well as the reshaping of the African identity. Quramo chooses to celebrate and spark conversation around the issues that further enrich creativity, make room for fresh talent and foster culture and community. They believe it’s possible to reshape how the world sees us through the appeal and attraction of what we create. For this to happen, we must first see, identify with and celebrate ourselves. 

Quramo takes pride in assembling an exciting and thought-provoking lineup that highlights current issues of significance to the average creative and aims to enrich their lives and skills. An independent media company of two arms; publishing and productions, the Quramo Group tells compelling and engaging stories primarily through books and film. Their passion is to invigorate the African creative economy with globally appealing and competitive content.

The Quramo Group also empowers writers through the Quramo Writers’ Prize (QWP) which was launched in 2017 and eventually evolved into the festival. This prize serves as an avenue for fresh writers to showcase their manuscripts to the global literary community. It aims to encourage and stimulate a new community of talented writers, providing an opportunity for otherwise unexposed talent to achieve publishing recognition.

Over the years, they have told stories of cultural significance, to preserve history and distil the spirit of our times. They are the publishers of A Platter of Gold by Olasupo Shasore, Drama Queen by Sefi Atta (her first and only children’s book), The Life é Times of Imran by Bayo Adeola, Bisi Is the Boss by Bola Tinubu, The Last Wedding Anniversary by Abimbola Dare, Chasing Butterflies by Yejide Kilanko and The Great Leap by Babatunde Raji Fashola. They also produced Journey of an African Colony on Netflix.

Samuel Monye first won the prize for Give Us Each Day, which went on to be longlisted for the NING Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2021. QWP has awarded more amazing writers with equally brilliant debut novels across the continent, during the Grand Finale of the annual Quramo Festival of Words. This year, with a panel of judges that includes Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, will be no different.