The Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFest) has unveiled the inaugural cohort of its Craft and Development Lab, selecting ten poets and writers from more than 300 applicants across Africa and the diaspora. According to the festival, the programme was created to provide writers with a space to develop their work through mentorship, critical conversations, and artistic community. The selected cohort includes writers working across poetry, fiction, spoken word, documentary poetry, performance, mythology, history, faith, ecology, and political writing.

The six-month programme will feature workshops, mentorship sessions, peer critiques, and professional development classes led by internationally acclaimed poets, including Romeo Oriogun, Nick Makoha, and Titilope Sonuga. The inaugural cohort comprises Ayinde Jean-Baptiste (Haiti/Trinidad and Tobago), Edinam Denoo (Ghana), Felix Eshiet (Nigeria), Joemario Umana (Nigeria), Karen Lee (Jamaica/Canada), Lillian Akampurira Aujo (Uganda), Lydia Nyachiro Kasese (Tanzania), Phodiso Modirwa (Botswana), Roseline Mgbodichinma (Nigeria), Salmah Suleiman Usman (Nigeria), and Oloruntobiloba Abiodun (Nigeria). The participants include prize-winning poets, literary editors, performers, and emerging writers whose works have appeared in publications such as Prairie Schooner, Guernica, Lolwe, Brittle Paper, and Jalada Africa.

Collectively, the fellows are developing poetry collections, chapbooks, spoken-word albums, documentary poetry, performance pieces, and interdisciplinary projects that reflect the diversity of contemporary African literature. In a statement, LIPFest thanked all applicants, noting that the quality, imagination, and ambition of the submissions reaffirmed the need for the programme and expressing hope that the inaugural edition would mark the beginning of many future cohorts.

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