The three-day Quramo Festival (Qfest) ended at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, after featuring master classes, workshops, film and documentary screenings, panel discussions, book readings, theatre, spoken word performance, and the unveiling of the Quramo Writers’ Prize (QWP) winner.
With the theme Transcendence: Words defying, Qfest2021 witnessed a large gathering of storytellers, playwrights, poets, and literary enthusiasts who came to explore the power of the arts of words, in relation to life in times of a pandemic and creativity, and discover ways to acquire that power.
The unveiling of the winner was the climax of the yearly literary and arts festival birthed from the Quramo Writers’ Prize. It aims to attract emerging and established literary enthusiasts.
The winner of the Quramo Writers’ Prize – Akinnimi Oluwaseun – brought the event to an end. Oluwaseun’s unpublished work entitled: Looking Glass Bullet, beat four other finalists Dark Spots Of Light by Ifeanyi Ekpunobi (2nd runner up), Fate of the Forlorn by Cynthia Nnadi (1st Runner up), In My Backwater Town by Ishola Hubaidat and Under the Aluminum Sky by Cynthia Chukwuma, to take home the N1million prize.
He will also have his manuscript published by Quramo Publishing.The top five finalists were commended for the quality of their manuscripts; and according to the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Publisher, Quramo Publishing Limited and festival organiser, Mrs. Gbemi Shasore, QWP did not look for perfection but potential, adding: the writers did their best to tell our stories as Africans.
The judges for QWP were decorated. They included head of panel, Jude Idada, Lechi Eke, and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim.
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Q Conversation, which took place on day three of the festival, spotlighted renowned filmmaker Femi Odugbemi. The conversation was anchored by award-winning multi-talented artiste, Bikiya Graham-Douglas.
Odugbemi said the secret of his success was putting his all into any project he embarked upon and did not work for money but legacy. He stressed mentoring as key to success in the industry.
Calling for more investments in the arts, Odugbemi emphasised the importance of documentary films, noting that it is critical to industry since it gives one the opportunity to take a position on an issue.
His biggest fear in life, surprisingly, is disappointing his mother, who, he said, keeps impacting him with a sense of balance even at 83. “I hope to write a book about her,” he added.
The Masterclass on ‘The Fine Art of Creative Non-Fiction’, which succeeded the creative writing workshop, featured a panel of four writers: United Strates-based Helon Habila (Travellers), Silva Nze Ifedigbo (My Mind Is No Longer Here), Samuel Monye (Give Us Each Day), and Olusegun Adeniyi (From Frying Pan to Fire: How African Migrants Risk Everything in their Futile Search for a Better Life in Europe).
The session was followed by a panel on ‘The Power of Words’, and then, “Writing to the Future, Today’, focusing on children’s writing. At the end, performance poet, Solutionist Clementina of Poets In Nigeria (PIN) emerged winner of Quramo Festival of Words Slam and took home the star prize of N100,000 cash.
Other notable features of the festival, which had award-winning playwright and theatre director, Prof. Ahmed Yerima, as special guest, included special spoken word performance by Dike Chukwumerije.
Setting the mood right for take-off of the grand finale of Qfest 2021, renowned thespian, Edgar Joseph (Duke of Shomolu), urged individuals and organisations to support the literary industry to improve literacy and reading culture of Africans.
Highlight of the event was the screening of trailer of the latest Quramo production entitled, ‘The Loot and the Lost Kingdom: A Quest for Who We Really Are’.
The movie which will be released soon, narrates interesting tale of Africa identity through artefacts looted during colonial period, still scattered all over the world, as well as the growing momentum for their return.