Qfest (Quramo Festival of Words) 2025: Day 3 Highlights

 Qfest Day 3 Highlights... 

1. AI Awakening: Weaving African Narratives in the Web of Creativity, Truth & Tomorrow, with Obinna Okerekeocha, Olajumoke Coker, Nurudeen Soremekun & Kapil Chandwani.  This panel discussion featured Obinna Okerekeocha, Olajumoke Coker, Nurudeen Soremekun, and Kapil Chandwani, moderated by Ridwan Adelaja. The focus was on whether AI serves as a beneficial tool or a potential threat to creatives, especially in the realm of African storytelling.

2.  Writer's Exchange:  In this session, poet and lawyer Tade Ipadeola engaged with Irish poet, playwright, and performer Stephen James Smith to explore themes of heritage, influence, and shared rhythms.                           

3. Up Close & Personal with Professor  Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, Professor Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ was interviewed by journalist and culture archivist Jahman Oladejo Anikulapo, discussing his writing and family background.

4. Wanderlust & Wounds: Crafting Identities from the Currents of Migration & Memory. This discussion featured Ndidi Chiazor, Silva Nze Ifedigbo, and Samuel Monye, the first Quramo Prize winner. Moderated by Amara Chimeka, the panel explored how migration shapes identities, memories, and storytelling.

5. Presentation of Quramo Publishing's newest books: Whispers of the Survival by last year's Quramo Writer's  Prize winner, Arthur Gabriel Yak; 

Home is Not a Place by Samuel Monye, the first Quramo Prize winner; and Fisayo and the Thirteen Wishes by Jesutofunmi Fekoya, a Quramo Prize longlister from 2019. The latter two are the authors' second novels.

                                              

Other events in Qfest Day 3 included: 

Panel Discussion: 961 Days, Brothers at War: Never Again

Moderated by Tade Ipadeola,  the discussion included contributions from Major-General Akintunde Akinkumi (retired), author of Hubris; Sam Omatseye; Professor Dul Johnson; and Ed Eeazor. 

                                 

The day ended with Siamsa Night, with Stephen Smith and other poets  entertaining the crowd with poetry and spoken word, and later on, the film screening of Thicker Than Water, directed by  Yomi E. Adejumo.