Africa Writes Africa Writes The Africa Writes festival is an annual celebration of contemporary literature from Africa and the diaspora brought to you by The Royal African Society. Every year we showcase established and emerging talent from the African continent and its diaspora in what is now the UK’s biggest celebration of contemporary African writing taking place over an exciting summer weekend. The festival features book launches, readings, author appearances, panel discussions, youth and children’s workshops, and other activities. Our previous headline speakers have been Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ngugi wa Thiong’o with son Mukoma wa Ngugi, Wole Soyinka, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ben Okri and Nawal El Saadawi. About the RAS The Royal African Society is Britain’s prime Africa organisation with more than a century of in-depth knowledge and experience of the continent and its peoples. We foster a better understanding of Africa in the UK and throughout the world, exploring the continent’s history, politics, culture, problems and potential. We disseminate knowledge and insight to make a positive difference to Africa’s development and celebrate the diversity and depth of African culture. About our Partners Africa Writes is organised by The Royal African Society in partnership with a host of like-minded organisations and individuals. This year some of our partners include African Reading Group (ARG!), Afrikult., Arts Council England, Black Reading Group, Bookshy Blogger, British Museum, Brunel University African Poetry Prize, The Caine Prize, Centre of African Studies at The University of London, Commonwealth Writers, Grange Hotels, Granta, Hay Festival, Jacaranda, Journal of African Cultural Studies, Miles Morland Foundation, SIDENSI, The Literary Consultancy, TedxEuston and our main partner, The British Library. About the British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library’s collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation and includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Up to 10 million people visit the British Library website – www.bl.uk – every year where they can view up to 4 million digitised collection items and over 40 million pages. www.africawrites.org www.royalafricansociety.org www.facebook.com/africawrites www.twitter.com/AfricaWritesUK