Assessing the Role of Literary Festivals in Promoting Comparative Literature Awareness in Nigeria

Literary festivals are increasingly significant sites of cultural production, public intellectual discourse, and literary community formation in Nigeria, and their potential role in promoting comparative literary awareness across regional, linguistic, and cultural boundaries merits professional assessment. This study assessed the contribution of three major Nigerian literary festivals to comparative literature awareness among participants: Ake Arts and Book Festival (Abeokuta), LABAF (Lagos International Book and Arts Festival), and Gombe Book Fair. A professional programme assessment methodology was employed, combining participant surveys administered to 240 festival attendees, structured interviews with 12 festival organisers and programme directors, and analysis of festival programme content for comparative literary events across three consecutive festival years. Results showed that comparative literary programming, defined as events explicitly placing Nigerian texts in dialogue with world literature from other cultural traditions, constituted only 18.4 percent of total literary programming at the three festivals combined. Author readings and panel discussions dominated programming, with critical comparative analysis sessions accounting for fewer than 12 percent. Participant surveys showed that 73.2 percent expressed interest in more explicitly comparative literary programming. Younger attendees (under 35) showed the strongest interest in non-African world literature. The study concludes that Nigerian literary festivals are currently underutilising their potential as comparative literature education platforms and recommends that festival programmers develop explicit comparative author series, international author exchanges, and translation-in-performance events as structural components of festival programming.

Keywords: literary festivals, comparative literature awareness, Nigeria, festival programming, public literary culture