Yinka Olatunbosun
Plans are underway for Quramo Publishing’s third edition of the Quramo Festival of Words, QFest 2021, with the theme: “Transcendence: Words Defying.”
In 2020, the Quramo Festival of Words was themed, Creativity Reset: The Future of Words, as a way of interrogating the adjustments resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, globally.
A year after, Transcendence: Words Defying will unravel how storytellers and creatives around the world, have modified words – for enlightenment and restoration, and as an effective tool in the fight for social justice and equality. In a statement issued by the Festival Director, Iquo DianaAbasi, the festival will explore some new frontiers of expression.
“With the popularity of transmedia tools such as Podcasts, Zoom, Instagram, Club-House, WhatsApp, and many other virtual platforms for expression, words have taken on different forms; from written texts to audio documents and visual texts, as such, this festival will explore the effectiveness of these new forms in the age of clampdowns.
“From social media bans to worsening inflation, brain drain and numerous killings across Nigeria and Africa, Quramo Festival of Words, QFest will look at a dynamic range of human issues in the throes and aftermath of a pandemic, and how different artists explore these issues and cope with the harsh impacts of the pandemic on the creative industry,’’ she stated.
Mrs. Gbemi Shasore, Executive Publisher, Quramo Publishing, and convener of QFest 2021 explained the rationale behind this year’s thematic focus.
“This year’s theme, Transcendence: Words Defying is apt, as it captures the struggles of creative’s who, though amongst the worst hit and the most stifled, during and after a pandemic, are constantly seeking meaning and restoration through all the traditional and alternative modes of creative expression that words allow.”
This year’s edition of Quramo Festival of Words (QFest) will explore its theme through poetry, book chats, panel discussions, film and more. The guest line up of fifty includes Professor Ahmed Yerima, Dike Chukwumerije, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Femi Odugbemi, and many more exciting creative voices.
The Quramo Writers’ Prize-the flagship prize- which is currently in its fifth year, has since 2019 been incorporated into the Quramo Festival of Words. As is tradition, the prize winner will be unveiled at the festival.
