The Benin Arts And Book Festival (BAABFEST) 2026 runs from 12 to 14 November 2026 in at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub Benin City, Edo State, with three days of books, art, memory and conversation built around the theme Re-ordering Identity.
This year, the theme of the BAABFEST2026, which was first organised by Eghosa Imasuen, Founder of Narrative Landscape Press in 2022, is “Re-Ordering Identity.”
According to the organizers, the aim of the festival is “connecting, giving access, visibility, and enlightenment to budding and established writers, artists, and thinkers through exhibitions, literary conversations, vendor showcases, and community programs.”
Organisers frame the programme around books, art, memory and conversation, and hopes the event will stir up crucial discussions among storytellers and culture custodians in the Nigerian literary and storytelling space on questions like: what stories do we carry? What histories shape us? and What happens when we tell them differently?
One of the unique features of BAABFest 2026, is the Call for Objects, where attendees will be required to bring special memorable antiques like jewellery, old documents, old journals and cassette tapes that they have had to be exhibited at the festival or donated.
This call ties into the theme of the role of memory in identity formation. But the Call for Objects is not just to showcase memories, it is to interrogate it as something that was assembled from inherited stories, and therefore something that can be rearranged.
The festival guest list is still being announced, but one of the headliners expected at the festival is Dr. Munirat Antoinette Lecky, Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Tourism and the Creative Economy.
BAABFEST started as a student-led project. Its maiden edition ran between 19 and 20 November 2022 under the theme Ariokpaegbe, meaning The Awakening, and was headlined by novelist Eghosa Imasuen and Former NLNG prize winner, poet Romeo Oriogun.
BAABFEST2026 is open to attendees from within Benin City and beyond. To register as an attendee, fill in the attendee form. To get updates on the festival such as its call for vendors, volunteers and objects, follow the official event page on Instagram.
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