Poetic Wednesdays Initiative will host the third Kano International Poetry Festival over three days of workshops, panels, performances, and an archive project focused on poetry in Nigeria’s many languages.
KAPFEST 3.0 runs October 15–17, 2026, across Gidan Dan Hausa and the Amani Event Center in Kano, under the theme Reclaiming Languages.
Programming includes masterclasses, language-focused panels, a community cultural showcase, a poetry slam with ₦1 million in prizes, and a multi-language poetry archive.
Poetic Wednesdays marks its tenth year and will use a new Nigeria Youth Futures Fund grant to launch an Arewa creative writing and advocacy fellowship.
# What KAPFEST 3.0 is and why it matters
KAPFEST 3.0, the third Kano International Poetry Festival, will take place October 15–17, 2026, in Kano. Organized by the Poetic Wednesdays Initiative, the festival centers on the theme Reclaiming Languages. The event brings poets, writers, artists, and cultural workers together to create, translate, and perform across a wide set of languages used in Northern Nigeria and the Sahel.
Poetic Wednesdays began as an online hashtag ten years ago and has since grown into community-led programming and an annual festival. KAPFEST builds on that decade of work and aims to keep smaller indigenous languages active through contemporary writing, performance, and translation rather than treating them as static artifacts.
# Three-day structure and highlights
Thursday, October 15 – Workshops and community showcase
Friday, October 16 – Panels, award, and poetry slam
Friday shifts to the Amani Event Center for the festival's official opening. Program elements include conversations and panels on indigenous languages, artist mobility, translation, and literary exchange. The festival will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi. The day closes with the Mudi Spikin Poetry Slam, where three young performers will share ₦1 million in prize money.
Saturday, October 17 – Performances and closing headline
Saturday continues the conversations and performances and concludes with a headline set by Bash Amuneni. Throughout the festival there will be an exhibition by visual artists and a reworked poetry archive project intended to collect and present poems in as many languages as possible.
# Languages, participants, and artistic aims
KAPFEST 3.0 will include work in Hausa, Fulfulde, Kanuri, Nupe, Shuwa Arab, Yoruba, Igbo, Ebira, Tiv, Igala, and other Nigerian languages. The program also includes contributions in Arabic, French, German, and English. Organizers frame "reclaiming" languages as active practice: writing, performing, translating, and experimenting with living speech across borders and generations.
# Support, partners, and new fellowship
# Practical details
Venues: Gidan Dan Hausa and the Amani Event Center, Kano
Core activities: workshops and masterclasses, panels on language and translation, cultural showcase, poetry slam with cash prizes, exhibition, and a multi-language poetry archive.
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