By Adamu Usman Garko
The Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF) is an Open Arts project designed purposely for giving voice to Hausa literature, arts and culture. It is through efforts like this that human beings reaffirm their honour as the greatest of all animals.
The maiden edition of the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF) is set to hold in Kaduna State, Nigeria, between October 21 and October 23, 2021. In the curator’s words, Sada Malumfashi: “The conceptualisation of the festival was borne out of a need to explore writing and literature in indigenous languages from Africa, and to open up conversations about language relationships across countries and borders. We at Open Arts have been blessed with the support of the community here in northern Nigeria, cousin festivals as well as researchers, academics and cultural institutions from the UK and Germany to make sure the inaugural festival comes to life.”
Among other exciting panels and book chats lined up for the event, the project also aims at combating fear, socio-cultural and religious intolerance amongst humanity and fosters a sense of unity, tolerance of diversity and subsequent embrace of and respect for each other’s differences in the North and by extension Nigeria.
The program is a three-day festival that focuses on “showcasing the best of contemporary African literature, poetry, music, art, film, and theatre in Hausa to a target audience of thousands of youths across West Africa. This is an important period in West Africa at crossroads of extremism to consider arts in Hausa as focal points to address our problems.”
The program will also feature Hausa Creative Writing Workshop, a free workshop to be facilitated by experts with the aim of teaching young Hausa storytellers rigorous ways to improve their writing skills.
Certainly, the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival is expected to be a promising, educative and informative avenue for the betterment of Hausa in the world of literature.