AdminThe Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), has announced the date and theme for the 27th edition of the Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF).
CORA is a major promoter of LABAF, an annual festival dubbed Africa’s Biggest Culture Picnic.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe theme and date of the 27th edition of the festival also called LABAF 27.0, was announced by the CORA Secretary-General, Toyin Akinosho at the conclusion of LABAF 26.0 on Sunday in Lagos.
The theme of the LABAF 27.0, “CHANGE: Imaginings Alternatives,” was unveiled via a giant screen at Freedom Park, the Festival venue.
A statement signed by LABAF Spokesperson, Mercy Timilehin Kelani, said the announcement was in line with the tradition of the festival since it was born in 1999 “The date and theme for next year’s festival is always unveiled in the closing event of the current year, usually with a poetry concert of the outgoing edition.”
Speaking before a full room audience, which included the Chairman of the CORA Board of Trustees, Chief Kayode Aderinokun, members of the CORA Volunteers Corps (CVC), and other guests, Akinosho revealed why the theme was chosen.
He reminded that the past few editions had been critical of the systems that run the affairs of Nigeria, and the continent; thus, the next edition would be making a vital contribution to national discourse by offering a platform for people to explore possible alternatives to what currently operates.
According to Akinosho, LABAF 26.0’s theme “BREAKOUT: Hope Is a Stubborn Thing” examined the grievances and deterioration in major sectors in Nigeria; “aside from the issues of ethnicity and bad governance, hope becomes a coping mechanism and survival technique for everyone.” Akinosho also revisited the themes of LABAF 24.0 and 25.0, relating how such addressed the worrisome developments in the social and political fabrics of Nigeria, and by extension, Africa.
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Explaining further the theme for 2025 LABAF, Akinosho stated: “While the just concluded festival is on Hope as a stubborn thing, we’re wondering whether the way the world is going, the eruptions that are happening all over the place, and the state of things do not make people begin to think about the idea of change. The idea of change is not just “change” as it is but “imagining alternatives”, whether at a personal level, or at the national level, or at the global level. For instance, will the present government be thinking about how to change its own narrative of governance, or will the Democratic Party in America begin to respond to aspirations or imagine alternatives?”
The CORA Secretary-General added, “The books that speak to the imagination about alternatives will be major books of the festival.”
As the audience celebrated the unveiling of LABAF 27.0, and its even more controversial theme, with loud screams, lavish photo sessions, and generous congratulations, the Chairman of CORA’s Board of Trustees, Chief Aderinokun was ushered to the stage by the anchor, Samuel Oriakhi Osaze, LABAF’s associate producer, to formally bring the festival to an end. Aderinokun, a father figure to CORA, and staunch supporter of LABAF, appreciated all participants at the festival, the CORA Board, and most especially, the volunteers, who he referred to as “my young friends.”
Speaking in the plenary room, 1st floor of Kongi’s Harvest Art Gallery, Aderinokun reiterated that CORA is passionate about the future of the country and the progress of the continent, “that is why we gather intellectuals in diverse fields of human endeavours, creatives and other well-meaning Nigerians to contribute ideas on how to effect change and impact positively on the life of our beloved country and, welfare of its people.”
Paying special tributes to the 27 members of the CORA Volunteer Corps (CVC), Aderinokun stated that “we are unofficially handing over to the younger generation. We are so impressed by what you did in this past exercise and I hope that you keep it up.”
Jubilation erupted amongst the CVC and the audience, and with this, the curtain fell on LABAF 26.0.
LABAF 2025’s theme was also unveiled via a giant screen on the main stage of the Festival venue, Freedom Park, which hosted the very last act of the week-long 73-events festival, Freedom Vibes, staged by CORA partner organisation, Unchained Vibes Africa, UVA.
Programme chair of CORA, and Director of LABAF, Jahman Anikulapo, was called onto the big shimmering stage, and urged the full house of mostly youth guests, to “lock down the date in your calendar, and don’t make the error of putting your own culture project in the same week – as it happened this year.”
Anikulapo also asked the full house of enthusiastic guests to spend time ruminating on the theme, and be free to suggest “ideas about books, visual arts, theatrical, film and other contents that could lead to the full exploration of the theme: CHANGE: Imagining alternatives.”
