Festival Photo Gallery Memories of Umuofia & Past Commemorations

DAY 1 – SUNDAY, 18TH OCTOBER, 2026

Opening Ceremony & Festival Village Launch (From 4:00 PM)

• Official Opening & Tour of the Festival Village: Guests arrive and tour the living world of Umuofia.
• Welcoming of Guests: MC opens proceedings while the Adanta Cultural Troupe enlivens the atmosphere with welcoming dancers.
• Breaking of Kolanut (Igo Oji na Iwa Oji): Traditional blessing performed by an authentic Igbo cultural ambassador / titled elder.
• Official Addresses: Opening remarks and speeches by the Festival Director, Commissioner/Minister, Board Chair, and Centre Director.
• Theatrical Opening: Pentagram–Adanta Theatrical Presentation: “Mother of The Spirits”.
• Opening Keynote Address: “The Weight of a Name: Power, Memory and the Architecture of Identity.” A framing address on naming as an instrument of power across Igbo and African history, from precolonial cosmology to colonial renaming to present-day self-definition.
• Procession to Exhibition Arena: Ogene music ushers guests into the arena.
• Exhibition Opening Remarks: Stand-up moderated conversation with the 2026 TFAF Exhibition Curator, Prof. Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi.
• Wonder Masquerade Display: Majestic masquerade performance closing the evening.

DAY 2 – MONDAY, 19TH OCTOBER, 2026

Morning Workshops (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

• Theatre For Therapy: Facilitated by Prof. Andrew Kahn (Buffalo State University) for an adult and tertiary audience.
• Egwuregwu: An Igbo Folk Music Workshop: Ichoku Academy & BLECCA Foundation (Day 1 of 5).
• Children's Literature Workshop & Book Conversation: Anyikwa Books (ages 8–15).

Afternoon Sessions (2:00 PM – 4:00 PM)

• Book Conversation: In Conversation: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, featuring the Umuofia Book Club, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Enugu Chapter, and Enugu Literary Society, exploring the novel’s resonance 68 years on.
• Panel Dialogue: Achebe’s Shadow: Naming, Language and the African Novel, examining how Things Fall Apart became an act of naming for African literature.

Evening Sessions (5:00 PM – 7:30 PM)

• Film Screening: No Let Dem Die (Documentary), focusing on cultural preservation and safeguarding memory and identity.
• Memoir & Life-Writing Fireside: Writing one's own name and history into personal narrative.
• Evening Music Performance: Highlife performance by the Therapeutic Band.

DAY 3 – TUESDAY, 20TH OCTOBER, 2026

Morning Workshops (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

• Egwuregwu Folk Music Workshop: Ichoku Academy & BLECCA Foundation (Day 2 of 5).
• Emerging Writers Literature Workshop: Facilitated by Michael Chukwudera (Day 1 of 2).
• Poetry of Writing Masterclass: Facilitated by James Eze (Day 1 of 2).

Afternoon Sessions (2:00 PM – 4:00 PM)

• Book Conversation: In Conversation: A Rising Voice, featuring Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera on Woman At a Crossroads.
• Panel Dialogue: Digital Identity: Usernames, Algorithms and the New Naming, exploring how the diaspora and digital natives are renaming themselves online.

Evening Sessions (5:00 PM – 7:30 PM)

• Film Screening: Ashawo... Or an Ode to Nigerian “Religious” Men, a meditation on gender, stigma, and the politics of naming.
• Evening Conversation: Special session with Chizoba Nwokoye, Nollywood Filmmaker and Influencer.
• Evening Music Performance: DJ and Karaoke (Highlife).

DAY 4 – WEDNESDAY, 21ST OCTOBER, 2026

Morning Workshops (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

• Egwuregwu Folk Music Workshop: Ichoku Academy & BLECCA Foundation (Day 3 of 5).
• Emerging Writers Literature Workshop: Michael Chukwudera (Day 2 of 2, closing).
• Poetry of Writing Masterclass: James Eze (Day 2 of 2, closing).

Afternoon Sessions (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)

• Book Conversation: In Conversation with Pages and Lounge Book Club, Aba Book Club, and Dainz Books on Memoir, Exile and Naming the Self, reflecting on Okey Ndibe's Never Look an American in the Eye and wider body of work.
• Indigenous Performance: Ikorodo: Traditional indigenous musical performance.
• Public Discourse: Indigenous Folk Music Workshop Presentation with Gerald Eze, Okechukwu Nwatu, and legendary Mike Ejeagha.

Evening Sessions (5:00 PM – 7:30 PM)

• Film Screening & Dialogue: A Nation of Brutality (Documentary), an experimental reflection on violence, nationhood, and power to define identity, followed by Dialogue on Storytelling.
• Evening Music Performance: Ichoku Academy live folk music performance.

DAY 5 – THURSDAY, 22ND OCTOBER, 2026

Morning Workshops (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

• Egwuregwu Folk Music Workshop: Ichoku Academy & BLECCA Foundation (Day 5 of 5 Finale).

Afternoon Sessions (2:00 PM – 5:15 PM)

• Community Conversation: Afa Onye Na-Edu Ya: What’s in an Igbo Name?, featuring elders, linguists, and parents on the meaning, selection, and preservation of traditional Igbo names.
• Panel Dialogue: Reclaiming Uli and Nsibidi: Visual Languages of Self, examining Uli design and Nsibidi symbols as precolonial systems of naming, identity, and contemporary revival.
• Theatre Presentation: Live dramatic stage production inspired by Things Fall Apart.
• Message from Partners: Goodwill message from event partners WB Yeats–TFAF Essay Awards supported by the Embassy of Ireland in Nigeria & Reading of The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats.

Evening Extended Fireside & Music (5:00 PM – 7:30 PM)

• Film Screening: Black Sands (Short film), exploring memory, communal survival, and dignity of lives history leaves unnamed.
• Extended Fireside with Mr. Nkem Owoh (Osuofia): Actor, Thespian, Musician. An unhurried, personal fireside on identity, naming, and living unapologetically as oneself.
• Evening Performance: Live energetic Ogene Performance.

DAY 6 – FRIDAY, 23RD OCTOBER, 2026

Morning Workshops (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

• Oral History & Community Archiving Workshop: Centre for Memories: a practical workshop on recording, preserving, and archiving family and community oral histories.
• Indigenous Folk Music Workshop Fireside Day: Gerald Eze, Okechukwu Nwatu, and Mike Ejeagha.
• Egwuregwu Folk Music Workshop: Ichoku Academy & BLECCA Foundation (Day 4 of 5).

Afternoon Sessions (12:00 PM – 4:00 PM)

• Academic Symposium: Special session with Prof. Charles.
• Book Conversation: In Conversation with Tinydot Bookstore and Crater Publishers on Fiction Across Continents, celebrating Chika Unigwe’s body of work on Igbo womanhood and migration (On Black Sisters Street).
• Panel Dialogue: Colonial Cartography: How Places Were Renamed, exploring how colonial administration renamed rivers, towns, and regions across Igboland, and what has been reclaimed since.

Evening Screening, Fireside & Music (5:00 PM – 7:30 PM)

• Film Screening: Never Say Die: The Story and History of Rangers International Football Club, a Centre for Memories production written and produced by Nze Ed Keazor.
• Filmmakers Fireside: Telling Igbo Stories on Screen.
• Evening Music Performance: Open Mic Night.

DAY 7 – SATURDAY, 24TH OCTOBER, 2026

Grand Finale & Closing Ceremony (10:00 AM – 3:00 PM)

• Opening Artistic Performances: Live painting exhibition showcase, violin, saxophone, and spoken word poetry.
• Special Recognitions & Award Presentations: Honoring cultural and literary contributors.
• Festival Theme Panel Dialogue: Deep interrogation of “Named, Unnamed, Renamed: Power, Identity and the Right to Self-Definition”.
• Musical Performances: Live performances by Rabbai and Oluoma.
• Closing Keynote Address: “Renaming Ourselves: The Work Ahead for Igbo and African Self-Definition.” A forward-looking address on what it means for a people to actively author their own name, story, and future.
• Award Presentation to Essayists: Formal recognition and awarding of 2026 Essay Competition winners by the 2026 Essay Jury.
• Grand Festival Closure: The revered Ajofia masquerade display formally closes the 2026 Things Fall Apart Festival (2:00 PM – 3:00 PM).