The Ibadan Book and Arts Festival (IBAFEST) sets to begin its 2026 celebrations with an opening book chat on Sunday, 25 October 2026, ahead of its second edition, which runs from Thursday, 29 to Saturday, 31 October 2026. The festival will bring together writers, artists, scholars, cultural practitioners, students and audiences for three days of conversations, performances, workshops and creative exchange in Ibadan and online.

Organised by the Sankofa Initiative for Culture and Development (SICD), IBAFEST 2026 is themed The Stories We Long to Tell, a theme that invites attention to the stories that communities carry, the voices that remain unheard and the experiences that deserve greater space in literature, the arts and public conversation.

Rooted in Ibadan’s long history as a centre of literature, scholarship, publishing and the arts, IBAFEST creates a meeting point for established and emerging voices across generations and creative disciplines. The 2026 edition will build on the foundation established by the inaugural festival in 2025, which brought together writers, artists, scholars, educators, students and members of the public across physical and virtual sessions.

The festival will begin its 2026 celebrations with an opening book chat on Sunday, 25 October, at 2:00 p.m. at RovingHeights Bookstore, Second Floor, Prime Mall, 33 Awolowo Avenue, Old Bodija, Ibadan. The event will feature Su’eddie Vershima Agema, author of I Stumble Inside Me Looking for Sunlight, and Professor Hyginus Ekwuazi, author of Fragments Salvaged from the Deluge, for an afternoon of poetry, conversation and literary exchange. The gathering will mark the beginning of this year’s festival activities, bringing readers and writers together around poetry and the stories carried through literature.

The main three-day festival programme will open on Thursday, 29 October with virtual creative workshops in screenwriting, poetry and performance. Stephen Okonkwo will lead the screenwriting workshop, Romeo Oriogun will facilitate the poetry workshop, while Wana Udobang will lead the performance workshop.

On Friday, 30 October, the festival will continue with virtual book chats and panel conversations examining contemporary literary and cultural questions. Sessions will include Nigerian Digital Literature: Perspectives on Facebook and Substack in the 21st Century, featuring Eriata Oribhabor and Ernest Jesuyemi, moderated by Joel Oyeleke.

Other Friday conversations include The Stories in Our Sound: Nigerian Hip-Hop and the Politics of Expression, with Tosin Gbogi and Godwin Tom, moderated by Joba Ojelabi; Landmarks and City Scapes in African Storytelling, featuring Jide Badmus and Pelu Awofeso; and Stories We Long to Tell: Finding Home Across Borders, featuring S’ueddie Agema and Ndubuisi Martins.

The programme will also feature The Stories Behind the Sound: Women and the Making of Afrobeat, with Dotun Oyebade and Shola Olorunyomi, as well as a Book Chat with Beautiful Nubia. An additional panel session featuring Rosemary Okafor, Tukur Loba Ridwan and Taofeek Ayeyemi is also part of the virtual programme.

The festival will culminate on Saturday, 31 October at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, with a full day of physical programming.

The Saturday programme will open with a Keynote Address by Tade Ipadeola, followed by a Keynote Conversation featuring Tunde Adegbola, Tunde Kelani, and Onimisi Olanike, moderated by Michael Olatunbosun.

The Author-Student Session and the panel The Next Voice in the Room: Emerging Stories and the Quest to Be Seen and Heard will feature Tobiloba Afolayan, Nnamdi Anyadu and Aremo Gemini, with Isaiah Adepoju as moderator.

A Writing Workshop with Godson Osarenren will also form part of the Saturday programme, providing participants with an opportunity for practical engagement with the writing process.

The programme will also feature conversations on digital storytelling, emerging voices and the future of African narratives, including Digital Content Creation and the New African Narrator, with Afouda Samuel, Jide Taiwo and Ayo Adams.

Speaking about the 2026 edition, the Festival Director, Servio Gbadamosi, said IBAFEST continues to grow from its original vision of creating meaningful spaces for literature, arts, education and cultural exchange in Ibadan.

“The Stories We Long to Tell speaks to the stories that have not yet found their audience, the voices that have not yet been heard and the experiences that continue to shape how we understand ourselves and our communities. IBAFEST is committed to creating a space where those stories can be shared and where different generations can meet through books, art, performance and conversation.”

The 2026 festival also places particular emphasis on young people and emerging voices. Through its author-student engagement, workshops and conversations around emerging storytelling, IBAFEST seeks to connect younger audiences with established practitioners while creating opportunities for them to participate actively in cultural conversations.

From literature and poetry to music, performance, digital content and screenwriting, IBAFEST 2026 will bring together different forms of storytelling under one theme. The festival’s hybrid format will also allow audiences beyond Ibadan to participate in the virtual sessions.

The Stories We Long to Tell reflects IBAFEST’s belief that stories do more than preserve memory. They help communities understand their present, question inherited narratives and imagine what comes next.