Gbemi Shasore, the executive publisher, of Quramo publishing Nigeria, has urged Nigerian creatives to deepen industry collaboration towards monetising their craft, connecting with the audience and building a stronger literary ecosystem for the country.
According to Shasore, Quramo chose to celebrate and spark conversation around issues that enrich creativity, make room for fresh talent and foster culture and community, which Nigerian creatives can leverage to make their craft better. “We’re happy collaborating because it gets us to our goal faster. Since we all have a common goal. Essentially, it’s the style that’s different, but the goal is the same, Shasore said during a recent Quramo Festival of Words (QFEST) press conference held in Lagos.
She stated that the 3-day art and literary festival scheduled to start on Friday, 7 October at Eko Hotels with the theme, ‘Africa Positive’ will adopt a conversational approach to drive the gathering of the literary, performing, creative and fine arts industry of Nigeria.
According to Shasore, the theme was chosen because it’s about time Africa started documenting, celebrating and reporting stories of its contribution to the global creative economy as well as the reshaping of the African identity. “This year, the festival is dedicated to every writer, author, singer, poet, performer, artist, curator, producer, director, and so much mote, representing us all over the world,” she said.
She stated that Quramo takes pride in assembling stimulating and thought-provoking lineup that highlights current issues of significance to the average creative and aims to enrich their lives and skills. According to her, the Quramo Group tells compelling and engaging stories primarily through books and film, which is driven by the passion to invigorate the African creative economy with globally appealing and competitive content.
“This is how to reshape how the world sees us; through the appeal and attraction of what we create. For this to happen, we must first see, identify with and celebrate ourselves. We do good things too, and that is our soft power,” Shasore said.
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However, speaking on the Quramo Writers’ Prize (QWP), which is an empowerment initiative for writers launched in 2017 and evolved into the festival. Shasore said that the prize serves as an avenue for fresh writers to showcase their manuscripts to the global literary community.
“It aims to encourage and stimulate a new community of talented writers, providing an opportunity for otherwise unexposed talent to achieve publishing recognition. The first two years was to unveil the Quramo Writers’ Prize winner, which is the prize for unpublished writers,” she said.
Jude Idada, Nigerian screenwriter, actor, poet, playwright and producer, said creatives need grants from both government and non-governmental organisation, and urged that high-net-worth Nigerians to set up endowment funds for the creative industry.
According to him, the government must create a literary friendly ecosystem that will attract private capital into the creative industry. He also advised young creatives to take their craft as a marketable product that can be monetised. “What is marketable obviously is monetize,” Idada said stating that literary work are globally mobile in terms of the ability to travel across borders without visas.
According to Idada, distribution is the most challenging for creatives; hence libraries are critical in bridging the gap. “It has to do with that distribution, whatever is produced if it cannot get to the place that it’s being consumed, it’s a waste of time”.
The highlights of the festival include master classes/workshops, panel discussions, book/author chats, a poetry contest, film screenings, a stage play, and the Quramo Writers’ Prize, with appearances by Bolanle Austen-Peters, TaymieB (of Cool FM), Jola Ayeye, FK Abudu, Jude Idada, and brand showcases from Puma, Anfani, Toriara Naturals and so much more.
