A snapshot of the Bakwa Literary Festival.

The Bakwa Literary Festival celebrated the best in Cameroonian writing from May 15-19, 2020.

Bakwa is a Cameroonian publisher of literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation that has published some of the most exciting established and emerging writers in Cameroon and across the continent. Bakwa’s newest initiative, the Bakwa Literary Festival, celebrated books and authors from Cameroon online via the Bakwa Books Instagram in May. Guests included Hemley Boum, Max Lobe, Dibussi Tande, Florian Ngimbis, Mutt-Lon, Babila Mutia, Clementine Ewokolo Burnley, Ejob Nathanael Ejob, Agogho Franklin and Djhamidi Bond.

For four days, the festival brought people together and provided a much-needed live forum where writers and critics engaged with bibliophiles. Conversations ranged from the role of the writer in times of conflict to discussions on recent and forthcoming books as well as book recommendations, literary translation among other things. For many watching from outside of Cameroon, it was a rare opportunity to experience the country’s literary community.

Here are some of the sessions that happened in both English and French.

Max Lobe

Part 1

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 15, 2020 at 4:12am PDT

Part 2

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 15, 2020 at 4:41am PDT

Hemley Boum

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 15, 2020 at 9:04am PDT

Ejob Nathanael

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 16, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

Agogho Franklin

Part 1

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 16, 2020 at 7:04am PDT

Part 2

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 16, 2020 at 7:13am PDT

Djhamidi Bond

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 17, 2020 at 3:14am PDT

Part 2

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 17, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

Clementine Ewokolo Burnley

 

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Book chat with Clementine Ewokolo Burnley

A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 17, 2020 at 8:43am PDT

Babila Mutia

Part 1

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 18, 2020 at 3:49am PDT

Part 2

 

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A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 18, 2020 at 3:54am PDT

Book Chat with Monique Kwachou

 

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Book Chat with Monique Kwachou

A post shared by Bakwa Books (@bakwabooks) on May 18, 2020 at 7:01am PDT