AFRIKULT.'S 'WORDS THAT TRAVEL' EVENT SERIES

Our event series aims to display the wonderful diversity of African literary traditions, whether it is poetry, storytelling, writing, songs, music, cinema, performance (just to name a few) we want to show it all! Most importantly make it accessible to everyone!

The first of our event series is scheduled for Saturday 23rd January 2016 and we will be hosting this at SOAS, University of London. We will have a publisher's market, a food court, musicians, poets, academics, and a film screening - most of which are free admission!

We are raising £1500 through our crowdfunding campaign to enable us in starting to deliver this event series, secure awesome artists and writers as well as help us branch out into wider communities. 

We believe that the beauty and originality of African literatures should be shared with everyone (not just within closed groups) and aspire for the 'Words that Travel' series to give a taste of the diverse literary and cultural offerings.

Who is afrikult.?

Afrikult. is an online platform that discusses, explores and celebrates African literatures. In July 2014, three friends made it their mission to bridge the deepening gap between the growing interest in African literature and dearth of knowledge on its richness and diversity. Afrikult. was the answer.

Here's a sneak-peak into work we've done so far:

• Website (bite-size book reviews; opinion pieces and interviews; external submissions);
• Collaborations with major cultural and heritage organisations such as Royal African Society and Sidensi (Africa in Translation panels), the British Library (vox-pop project), SOAS, University of London and the Igbo Conference;
• Outreach workshops titled Mapping African Literature workshop (ages 18 - 24) and Mapping West African Literature for KS3 students;
• #AfrikultWAL campaign for online African literature lovers;
• Bi-monthly African Women Writers feature series on For Books' Sake website;
• Reviews for Mambo magazine and The Africa Report.

why should you donate & Where will the money go?

It is important that you donate to a cause that seeks to expose and disseminate the diversity of African literatures and cultures to wider communities. In the face of globalisation, it is increasingly important that the homogeneous views and languages often used to analyse the intricacies of the African continent be confronted by the work that we and other organisations are doing. This can start by your contribution to us setting up the 'Words that Travel' event series.

How we will spend the money:

• If we hit our minimum we will use this towards some of the artists and volunteers (on the day) fees;
• If we hit our target we will use this towards artists and volunteers (on the day) fees, promotional material for outreach and during the event series, equipment hire;
• If we exceed our target the extra funds will go into sustaining the event series;
• Depending on the timescale, we will give weekly-monthly updates on the progression and expenditure in implementing 'Words that Travel' event series, and would love for you to continue to stay tuned with what Afrikult. is doing.

The co-founders of Afrikult. will not be receiving any of these funds, your donation will go directly into implementing the event series.

Why not get involved in our #Loveafricanliterature posts?!

Whether you can financially contribute or not we want EVERYONE who loves African literature to get involved by posting up a photo or video of what they love about the literature! This could be certain mediums, quotes, authors, or what has inspired you to engage with the literature. Here are some of the reasons of why we are absolutely devoted. 

(photographer: Nicole LeBlanc @nicole_g_leblanc)

Find us here

Website: www.afrikult.com | Facebook: Afrikult. | Twitter: @afrikult | Instagram: @afrikult

Follow us and keep up to date with how we are doing!

Help us succeed!

You don't need to give money to help us succeed! Please share this project with anyone you think would support us – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog.

In fact, share it with everyone you know as we think it's a great idea, and the more people who know about it, the more likely we are to make this work out brilliantly.

A BIG THANK YOU for your support.