Nnedi Okorafor, Wole Talabi, Chika Unigwe Will Be at Aké Festival 2026, Themed “Native Intelligence”
Aké Arts and Book Festival opens its 14th edition in two weeks, and the theme it has chosen, "Native Intelligence," puts African thought and creativity in direct conversation with the age of artificial intelligence.
Nnedi Okorafor, Wole Talabi, and Chika Unigwe are among the writers confirmed to attend. That lineup alone is reason enough to clear your calendar, bringing together voices who have long been shaping the conversation around African futures, speculative fiction, and the power of storytelling rooted in lived experience.
The festival, now in its fourteenth year, has built a reputation for gathering writers, artists, and thinkers in ways that feel less like a conference and more like a family reunion with very good books. This edition looks set to push that energy further, centering a theme that asks what African knowledge systems, creativity, and ways of knowing bring to a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and automation.
If you have been watching the debate around AI and wondering where African voices fit in, Aké 2026 may be exactly where that conversation gets interesting.
Originally published by Brittle Paper.