Kaduna International Poetry Festival
What is KIPFEST?
We at KIPFEST, look forward to creating a culturally rich and sensitive space where we can have honest conversations and storytelling while learning what means a lot to others and to ourselves.
At KIPFEST this year, we shall be bringing more young, dynamic new voices from around Nigeria to share in our culture – the culture of Kaduna and of the North – and connecting them with Art lovers, thinkers, readers, publishers and critics. We are committed in promoting the Arts, ideas and the culture of Northern Nigeria where everyone’s voice matters in fostering an open, approachable, diverse, innovative, fun, and culturally prominent community.
The festival looks to bring the best performers from around the world to Kaduna to share in the states rich culture and history with a goal to promote, develop and celebrate creativity in Northern Nigeria through a series of events during and after the festival.
Theme: DISAPPEARANCE!
What does it mean to disappear? How do we engage with history, culture, and the experience of disappearance? How do we combine conversations, art, and poetry to challenge lost bodies and spaces? How do people that are grieving from disappearances, occupy spaces within our society?
What happens when an artist decides to stop producing Art? What happens when even the language of Art disappears? We live in difficult times as we see individuals, families, ideas and what was once realities disappear due to insecurity and intolerance. How do we describe the forced disappearance of a body through mental or physical assault and emotional violence? When bodies disappear, what becomes a shrine to remember them by?
The approach of Disappearance! is to use poetry to fix fragile community bonds and address the root causes of conflict especially in northern Nigeria. We believe conflict can be constructed, understood, justified, organized and mediated through the arts and culture, especially poetry.
Poetry can serve as a means to advocate for peace, mutual understanding and reconciliation. Poetry as an artistic expression and cultural product plays significant role in the process of conflict resolution by initiating awareness and conversations.
Disappearance will target young people across northern Nigeria and enable them to address conflicts while also encouraging them to express themselves creatively, through activities such as poetry open mics, poetry slam competitions, poetry workshops and panel conversations. This will help youths in these conflict regions to build self-respect, respect the differences of others and have a sense of social responsibility.
