Tony Okuyeme 
Notable poet and novelist, Lola Shoneyin, has commended Sterling Bank Plc for it support for the annual Ake Arts and Books Festival. This year’s edition of the festival, which curated five intergenerational conversations that reflected the 2021 festival theme; Generational Discordance, featured 30 events, including book chats, panel discussions, documentary and film screenings, as well as poetry video album, an art showcase and musical concert. In her closing remarks at the festival, which was held virtually for the second year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shoneyin, who is the founder and director of the festival, said: “Having Sterling Bank by our side makes our heads swell.
From their commitment to the belief in the transformative power of our stories and for helping us document and archive our ideas, we thank you.” She noted that bank has become the code word for companies that support the arts with sincerity of purpose, adding that Ake Festival is the envy of cultural entrepreneurs and organisations across the African continent. “Across the continent, cultural activists often say ‘we need Sterling Bank’,” she added. Commenting on this year’s theme, Shoneyin said the internet has amplified generational differ ences in almost every area of African life.
“Engagement and communication – characterised by a willingness to listen – as well as mutual respect and empathy are what will face down the retrogressive forces and the structures and systems that oppress and dehumanize us. We must eschew the sensationalism and divisive influence of digital algorithms and find a more harmonious continental rhythm that allows us to talk to, and not past, each other.” Also speaking, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Abubakar Suleiman, said the bank has continued to support Africa’s biggest literary festival because education is one of the five sectors that the bank is currently concentrating investments n.
The other sectors are health, agriculture, renewable energy and transportation. The three-day festival featured ‘The Life and Times Series’ event with Booker Prize shortlisted author, Maaza Mengiste, in a conversation with the festival headliner, Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah, who was announced as the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Gurnah, a Tanzanian author, spoke about the invasion of East Africa and noted that until recently, most conversations about colonial presence in Africa had always excluded Germany. The Nobel Laureate, however, used his novel as a medium to narrate how Germany established colonies in present day Namibia, Cameroon, Togo, parts of Tanzania and Kenya as well as Rwanda and Burundi. Some of the book discussions included: Bring Back Our Girls by Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson; Lionheart Girl by Yaba Badoe; His Only Wife by Peace Medie; Formation: The Making of Nigeria from Jihad to Amalgamation by Fola Fagbule and Feyi Fawehinmi; Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi; Born in Blackness by NYT columnist, Howard French; When the Sky is Ready The Stars Will Appear by EC Osondu; and The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Dorkoa Sekyiamah.
