Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, in the UK in May 2010. Shoneyin has forged a reputation as an adventurous, humorous and outspoken poet, having published three volumes of poetry. Her writing delves into themes related to female sexuality and the difficulties of domestic life in Africa. In April 2014 she was named on the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. Lola won the PEN Award in America as well as the Ken Saro-Wiwa Award for prose in Nigeria. She was also on the list for the Orange Prize in the UK for her debut novel, The Secret of Baba Segi's Wives, in 2010. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria, where she runs the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival. In 2017, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by Brittle Paper.
Helen Paul is a Nigerian comedian, singer, and actress. She is also a stand-up comedian, known as Tatafo, characterized by a voice range that makes her sound like a child.
Aisha Augie-Kuta is a Nigerian photographer and filmmaker based in Abuja. She is a Hausa from Argungu Local Government Area in northern Nigeria. She won the award for Creative Artist of the year at the 2011 The Future Awards. Her work spans across documentary, fashion and aerial photography. She uses juxtaposition in her work as her way of pushing the idea that there are always two sides of a story; this comes from her background in photojournalism and Mass Communication. Her personal projects explore issues of gender and identity influenced by her experiences as a female, mixed race and mixed tribe individual who struggled to fit in earlier in life.
The Headies is a music awards show established in 2006 by the Hip Hop World Magazine of Nigeria to recognize outstanding achievements in the Nigerian music industry. The annual ceremony features performances by established and promising artists. It is broadcast live on HipTV to viewers across Nigeria. The first and second editions of The Headies were held at the Muson Center in Onikan, Lagos State. Between 2010 and 2012, the awards were held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos. Several media personalities in Nigeria have hosted the annual ceremony, including Darey Art Alade, D'banj, Dakore Egbuson, Banky W., Rita Dominic, M.I, Tiwa Savage and Dr SID.
Toke Makinwa is a Nigerian radio personality, television host, vlogger, lifestyle entrepreneur, actress and author. Toke is known for hosting The Late Morning Show on Rhythm 93.7 FM and for her YouTube vlog series Toke Moments. She released her book On Becoming in November 2016. She is one of the top five African female show hosts.
Bolanle Austen-Peters, is a lawyer, a multiple award-winning movie director/producer, theater director/producer and cultural entrepreneur. She is the founder and artistic director of BAP Productions and the arts and culture center Terra Kulture in Lagos. She has been described by the CNN as the "woman pioneering theater in Nigeria", named one of the most influential women in Africa by Forbes Afrique and been recognised with several awards for her contribution to the arts.
Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún is a Nigerian linguist, writer, translator, scholar, and cultural activist. His work and influence span the fields of education, language technology, literature, journalism, and linguistics. He is the recipient of the 2016 Premio Ostana "Special Prize" for Writings in the Mother Tongue for his work in language advocacy. He writes in Yoruba and English, and is currently the Africa editor of the Best Literary Translations anthology, published by Deep Vellum.
The Aké Arts and Book Festival is a literary and artistic event held annually in Nigeria. It was founded in 2013 by Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian writer and poet, in Abeokuta. It features new and established writers from across the world, and its primary focus has been to promote, develop, and celebrate the creativity of African writers, poets, and artists. The Aké Arts and Book Festival has been described as the African continent's biggest annual gathering of literary writers, editors, critics, and readers. The festival has an official website and a dedicated magazine, known as the Aké Review.
Dike Chukwumerije is a Nigerian spoken word and performance poetry artist and author. He has eight published books, including the novel Urichindere, which won the 2013 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Prose Fiction and a poetry theatre production made in Nigeria. In October 2018, he traveled to nine Nigerian cities: Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Benin, Ile-Ife, Maiduguri, Yola, Bonny, and Jos.
Kaduna Book and Arts Festival, also known as KABAFEST, is an annual literary, cultural, and art event in Kaduna State, Nigeria that took place for the first time in July, 2017. It was organized by Book Buzz Foundation, who also organizes the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival, in collaboration with the Kaduna State Government and the Gusau Institute. It was also the first book festival that occurs annually in northern Nigeria.
Natalia Molebatsi is a South African writer, poet, performer, editor, and cultural organizer.
Wana Udobang, also known as Wana Wana, is a Nigerian writer, poet, journalist, filmmaker, and television personality. Her work has appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, BellaNaija, and The Guardian, She has been described as "one of the biggest champions of our new spoken word renaissance is taking a leap into the void."
Adenrele Sonariwo is a Nigerian entrepreneur and art curator. She is the founder of the Rele Art Gallery on Military Street, Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria as well as the Rele Art Gallery on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Rele Gallery is the first African contemporary art gallery to establish an outpost in Los Angeles. Sonariwo was the lead curator of the first Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. Alongside the Rele Art Gallery, Sonariwo is also the founding director of the Rele Arts Foundation. The foundation's projects include the annual young Contemporaries programme, which offers grants, mentorship, residences and training to a small group of emerging artists, an opportunity that results in an exhibition hosted at the gallery.
Lights, Camera, Africa! is a film festival which has been held annually in Lagos since 2011.
Tolu A. Akinyemi is a multiple award-winning Nigerian writer and poet best known for his poetry collection, Dead Lions Don't Roar.
Logan February is a Nigerian poet, essayist, music reviewer, singer, songwriter, and LGBTQ activist.
The Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) is an annual arts festival founded in 1999 by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), a Nigerian-based cultural organisation.
Kadara Enyeasi is a Nigerian fine art photographer.
Agbowó is an African literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, essays, drama and visual art. The journal has published several works of literary and visual art since its launch in 2017 as well as three issues—X, Limits, Memory—of an annual, themed magazine.
