Repairing Nigeria Through Art: Lagos Book & Art Festival Unveils Ambitious 2026 Programme
LABAF 2026: Nigerian Writers & Artists Mobilise Culture for Nigeria’s Renewal
NIGERIA’S cultural community will turn its attention to the relationship between artistic expression and national development when the 28th Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) returns to Freedom Park, Lagos, from 16 to 22 November 2026.
Organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), the festival will bring together writers, publishers, visual artists, performers, academics, filmmakers and other creative practitioners for a week of discussions, exhibitions, performances and intellectual exchanges.
This year’s edition, themed ‘Repair: The WORKOVER Starts NOW,’ will examine the challenges confronting Nigeria while exploring how literature and the wider creative industry can contribute to rebuilding the country’s social, cultural and intellectual foundations.
Beyond its usual celebration of artistic expression, LABAF 2026 will place a demanding question before participants: what role should writers, artists and cultural institutions play in a society seeking renewal?
Through book conversations, theatre productions, poetry, film screenings, visual exhibitions and public debates, the organisers intend to encourage critical engagement with Nigeria’s present circumstances. Consequently, the festival will provide a meeting point for creative experimentation, historical reflection and conversations about the country’s future.
The gathering will also coincide with a major milestone in the history of its organising institution. CORA, founded on 2 June 1991, will celebrate 35 years of promoting artistic expression, literary engagement and cultural development in Nigeria.
A festival built around the idea of national repair
The theme ‘Repair: The WORKOVER Starts NOW’ provides the intellectual framework for this year’s programme.
Rather than treating culture as entertainment alone, the festival will explore how literature, theatre, visual arts and other creative forms can help society confront difficult questions about identity, governance, responsibility and collective progress.
The central theme will receive particular attention on 20 November, when poet and lawyer Tade Ipadeola delivers the keynote address at a colloquium scheduled for the J. Randle Centre, Onikan.
In addition, a symposium will examine different approaches to national development through discussions around books such as Stefan Dercon’s Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose and Olusegun Aganga’s Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa.
Another conversation will draw on Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk to explore the challenges associated with governance and the management of public power.
These discussions will place literature within a wider national conversation, demonstrating how books can provide frameworks for understanding economic choices, institutional responsibility and the consequences of public decisions.
Importantly, the festival’s emphasis on repair will extend beyond political and economic discussions. By bringing together different creative disciplines, LABAF will also examine the capacity of cultural expression to challenge established assumptions, preserve collective memory and encourage new ways of imagining the future.
CORA celebrates 35 years of cultural advocacy
The 2026 festival will carry additional significance for CORA as the organisation marks its 35th founding anniversary.
Established on 2 June 1991, the organisation has spent more than three decades promoting conversations about literature, visual arts, theatre and the wider cultural environment.
To commemorate the milestone, CORA will hold a special anniversary opening ceremony on 16 November, featuring reflections, tributes and testimonies from individuals who have contributed to its development.
CORA’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Kayode Aderinokun, will speak on the importance of the anniversary, while Secretary-General Toyin Akinosho will examine the organisation’s vision and evolution.
The programme will also feature contributions from founding president Yomi Layinka, alongside Tunde Lanipekun, Chika Okeke, Deji Toye, Sola Alamutu and Ndidi Dike.
Furthermore, writer and literary activist Ben Tomoloju will deliver a special review, providing another perspective on the organisation’s history and its place within Nigeria’s cultural landscape.
Poetry, music and dance will complement the anniversary proceedings. Performers expected to participate include Victory Ashaka, Ruth Mahogany, The Africana Band, Kola Ogunkoya, Seyi Solagbade and Segun Adefila, alongside members of the Guild of Nigerian Dancers.
Through these contributions, the anniversary will recognise the people, ideas and creative initiatives that have sustained CORA’s activities over the years.
Celebrating Femi Osofisan’s contribution to African literature
Another major highlight will be the celebration of Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan, the accomplished academic, playwright and poet who will mark his 80th birthday.
The festival will devote several sessions under CORA’s #CORALiterarySeason 3.0 to examining his literary achievements and influence on African literature and theatre.
Rather than limiting the celebration to tributes, the programme will revisit some of his notable works, including Literature and the Pressure of Freedom, Seven Stations Up the Tray’s Way, The Jeweller of Night, Ireke: Saga of the Sugarcane Man, Morountodun and Best of Times: Three Novellas.
Writers, literary critics and scholars will examine the ideas, dramatic techniques and social concerns that shape his writing. In doing so, they will consider the continuing relevance of his works to contemporary African society.
A symposium titled ‘African Theatre and Film: Old Light in New Vessels’ will further examine Osofisan’s contribution to the evolution of African drama and the possibilities of translating literary works into other creative forms.
The celebration will also move to the screen through scheduled presentations of Tunde Kelani’s Maami and Cordelia, both adapted from Osofisan’s literary works. The playwright is expected to attend the screenings.
These activities will demonstrate the continuing relationship between literature, theatre and cinema while recognising the creative possibilities that emerge when stories move across artistic disciplines.
Forty years of Soyinka’s Nobel legacy
The festival will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of Wole Soyinka’s Nobel Prize in Literature, which he received in 1986.
An exhibition titled ‘Timeless Memories: Elastic Effects of Wole Soyinka VIII’ will explore the literary journey of the Nobel laureate under the theme ‘Ake to Stockholm – Celebrating 40 Years of Wole Soyinka’s Nobel Prize in Literature (1986–2026).’
Curated by archivist and researcher Dr. Oludamola Adebowale, the exhibition will bring together archival photographs, historical documents and personal memorabilia to trace the development of Soyinka’s literary career and international recognition.
Additionally, the programme will feature a documentary screening and the launch of a comic book titled Ake to Stockholm.
The exhibition will open on November 16 and remain accessible throughout the festival and beyond.
Through this presentation, LABAF will connect Nigeria’s literary history with the country’s contemporary cultural conversations. It will also provide an opportunity for younger visitors to encounter the historical experiences and achievements behind one of Africa’s most recognised literary figures.
Artificial intelligence & the changing face of creativity
While the festival will devote considerable attention to literary history, it will equally confront the technological changes reshaping the creative industries.
Artificial intelligence will feature prominently in the annual Publishers’ Forum scheduled for November 19 at the J. Randle Centre.
The forum will bring together writers, publishers, booksellers and readers to discuss how AI could transform the production, distribution and consumption of literary works.
Participants will also examine the implications of emerging technologies for authors, publishing houses, booksellers and other professionals whose livelihoods depend on the book industry.
A separate workshop on 21 November will explore AI’s growing influence on artistic expression, storytelling, music and design.
Furthermore, a conversation titled ‘AI and Humanity’ will consider wider questions about human creativity, ethical responsibility and decision-making in an increasingly technology-driven environment.
These discussions will be particularly relevant as creative professionals seek to understand the opportunities and risks associated with emerging digital tools.
Rather than viewing technological change only as a threat or an opportunity, the festival will encourage participants to examine how artificial intelligence can affect creative ownership, artistic originality and the relationship between human imagination and machine-generated content.
Giving young people a place in the cultural conversation
LABAF 2026 will also place young people at the centre of its cultural engagement strategy.
The Green Festival, coordinated by Sola Alamutu of Children and the Environment (CATE), will involve secondary school students in creative workshops and activities.
Other youth-focused programmes will include mentoring sessions, drawing workshops, poetry competitions and conversations about literature and the arts.
One notable engagement will bring Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, winner of the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature, together with students from schools across Lagos.
During the session, Ifowodo will discuss his literary journey and the significance of receiving the $100,000 award.
His winning poetry collection, Why Does God Need a Gun?, will also feature in a Readers Assembly, where actor and literary activist Nathaniel Olawoyin will present performed readings from the work.
By introducing students to established writers and their creative processes, the festival will seek to make literature more accessible while encouraging young people to develop their own artistic interests.
The approach also reflects a broader recognition that cultural renewal requires more than celebrating accomplished practitioners. It demands deliberate investment in the next generation of readers, writers, artists and cultural leaders.
Exploring new creative forms through technology
Beyond traditional literary and artistic presentations, the festival will examine how African stories can reach audiences through emerging creative formats.
A workshop curated by Ayodele Elegba, founder of Lagos Comic Con, will explore the adaptation of African narratives into comics, animation and video games.
This engagement will consider how creators can reinterpret indigenous stories and contemporary experiences through visual and interactive formats that appeal to changing audiences.
Similarly, artist Godwin Kalu will present an interactive three-dimensional augmented reality art exhibition, demonstrating how digital technology can expand the possibilities of artistic expression.
These activities will broaden the festival’s engagement with the creative economy by connecting literature and visual arts with technology, entertainment and digital storytelling.
Theatre, dance & music bring the programme to life
The performing arts will provide another important dimension to the festival.
The Guild of Nigerian Dancers will present ‘Choreographies of Power,’ an exploration of how power influences individual and collective movement.
Meanwhile, the Crown Troupe of Africa will stage No More the Wasted Breed, directed by Segun ‘Oriade’ Adefila. The production is conceived as an ideological and critical response to Wole Soyinka’s The Strong Breed.
Another theatrical presentation will reinterpret Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero, bringing one of Nigeria’s notable dramatic works into the festival’s broader conversation about society and cultural identity.
Poetry performances by Naija Poetry Fest will further enrich the programme, while internationally renowned performance artist Jelili Olorunfunmi Atiku will present an open performance followed by a discussion on archives, decolonisation, restitution and performance.
Music will also feature prominently through a jazz concert celebrating three milestones: 10 years of the Lagos Jazz Society, 25 years of Inspiro Productions, popularly known as Naijazz, and CORA’s 35th anniversary.
The combination of these performances will reinforce the festival’s multidisciplinary character, allowing audiences to encounter cultural ideas through different artistic experiences.
A cultural gathering with a national question
LABAF 2026 will conclude on 22 November with further discussions about the future of Nigeria’s creative industry, followed by a closing ceremony featuring poetry and music.
The organisers will also unveil the date and theme of the next edition.
Nevertheless, the significance of this year’s festival extends beyond its seven-day programme. Its central theme places cultural practitioners before a larger responsibility: to examine how artistic expression can contribute to a society’s capacity for reflection, reform and renewal.
With CORA marking 35 years of cultural engagement, the festival will also provide an opportunity to assess the role of independent cultural institutions in sustaining public debate and encouraging artistic development.
Ultimately, LABAF 2026 will bring together the country’s literary past, contemporary creative experiments and emerging generations of artists around a shared conversation about the future.
Its message is captured in the theme itself: the work of repairing society cannot be postponed, and the creative community has a role to play in that process.
