arts stampede in cape town

CORA Takes ‘Stampede’ To Cape Town

THE 61st edition of the Art Stampede will hold at the Cape Town Book Fair, in the most beautiful city on thecontinent, in June. The event is scheduled for June 20, from 10am to 11.30 at the Olive Schreiner Room 1.52 at the Cape Town International Conference Centre,where the book fair is taking place. The discussions will be led by Harry Garuba, associate professor of English and African studies at the University of Cape Town and Muhtar Bakare, publisher of Farafina. The theme of the stampede is Nigerian Literature, anevolving story, 20 years after Africa’s First Nobel. It will be the second time in 10 years that the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) will move the "artstampede", its flagship programme, out of its Lagos base and present it to an audience far removed from its comfort zone. In 1996, CORA took a conversation onpublishing to Demas Nwoko’s studios on Mokola Hill in Ibadan. "With this Cape Town stampede, CORA is making the statement to the world that Nigerian literature is alive, robust and growing, even if poorly marketed," according to a statement by Jahman Anikulapo, the committee’s programme chairman. The idea for a discussion on Nigerian literature at the Cape Town Book Fair came from the South African author, Antjie Krog, who visited Nigeria last year, saw the country’s vast range of literature output and suggested that Nigeria must take a space at the Book fair to show the South African audience how much is happening in the Nigerian literary scene.

*Text: Press Release