Lagos International Poetry Festival Announces 2023 Edition: “Sanctuary”

The Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFest) is excited to announce its 2023 edition — scheduled to take place from Thursday, October 26, to Sunday, October 29, with the theme “Sanctuary” — a four-day series of events designed to hold space for stillness and renewal.

As the accelerated pace of hyper-capitalism continues to splinter our attention in several anxious directions, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain private and public environments for the kind of contemplative attention to which we owe the most profound of human achievements. The consequence has been the steady dissolution of silence into noise, independent thinking into groupthink, and as the Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han cleverly put it, “a low tolerance of boredom,” that disallows “the profound idleness that benefits the creative process.” And so, for LIPFest 2023, we draw on the psycho-spiritual resources of art and poetry, literature and culture, to call us back to solitude and a re-connection to self and truth. 

LIPFest 2023 will offer a diverse range of artistic experiences, including performances and readings, panel discussions and workshops, film screenings and exhibitions. The festival is proud to present a line-up of prominent artists, poets, writers, activists, healers, and thinkers dedicated to creating an immersive sanctuary for reflection and wellness over the course of four transformative days.

Visitors can also look forward to yoga and wellness sessions, a movement therapy space, a game room, and an on-site private oasis for writing and reflection.

The venue for this year’s festival is the Alliance Française Mike Adenuga Center, 9, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

We invite you to join us in this sanctuary of stillness, creativity, and rejuvenation. Let’s transcend boundaries, connect through words, and celebrate our shared humanity at LIPFest 2023.

For information on guest line up, festival programme, and further updates follow the Lagos International Poetry Festival on Instagram and Twitter @Lagospoetryfest.

For further information, please visit www.lagospoetryfestival.com or contact info@lagospoetryfestival.com.

About Lagos International Poetry Festival

Since 2015, the Lagos International Poetry Festival, an arm of Creative Africa, has brought together some of the biggest writers, poets, thinkers, artists, and public intellectuals for four days of readings, performances, workshops, panel discussions, and a celebration of creativity, establishing itself as one the continent’s key cultural highlights. The festival is invested in sustaining an inclusive space for the free exchange of ideas and a platform for connecting poets, writers, and artists to new audiences and practices. It has continued to invest in the development of the local literary and cultural scene by platforming emerging talents and equipping poets and writers with the skills and resources they need to flourish, through its annual workshops and school outreaches.

LIPFest was imagined as a vehicle for enabling poets existing on the fringes to create their own centers of gravity, with cultural force, vision, and daring, and continues to attract pioneering spirits and emerging voices. We believe facilitating pan-African, pan-diasporic, and international connections between poets and writers from different universes of experience are important to deepening artistic consciousness and are enthusiastic about collaborations that expand space for the life of the mind and enrich practice.

Contact us at info@lagospoetrtyfestival.com for exchanges and collaborations.