Lagos will play host to a rare literary gathering this October as Kenyan-American poet, author, and academic Mukoma wa Ngũgĩ joins Wale Lawal, founder and editor-in-chief of The Republic, for a public conversation on the making and meaning of African literature.
The event, themed Rethinking Beginnings: Mapping the Rise of the African Novel, will take place on Friday, 10 October 2025, from 5 p.m. at Roving Heights, Landmark Centre, Victoria Island.
Anchored in Mukoma’s groundbreaking book, The Rise of the African Novel, the dialogue will revisit the multilingual late 19th and early 20th centuries that shaped African writing. It will interrogate how literary periodisation narrows our view of the canon, question the cost of neglecting African-language texts, and imagine what a more expansive literary history might offer to readers and writers today.
Organized by Roving Heights in collaboration with Cassava Republic, the event is open to the public but with limited seating. Literature lovers, students, and scholars are invited to RSVP here.
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
