Book Buzz Foundation, in collaboration with the European Union, has launched The Nigeria Picture Book Project, a first-of-its-kind creative and capacity-building initiative designed to promote authentic Nigerian storytelling for children.
The event, which took place on 17 October 2025 at Ouida in Opebi, Lagos, brought together stakeholders in literature, education, art, and cultural development to celebrate a new chapter in Nigerian children’s book publishing.
The project aims to transform the landscape of children’s literature in Nigeria by bringing together authors, illustrators, and publishers to create high-quality picture books that reflect Nigeria’s diversity, languages, and cultural heritage.
Supported by the European Union, the initiative seeks to:
Empower Nigerian creatives through mentorship, workshops, and collaborative publishing opportunities.
Produce locally inspired picture books that help Nigerian children see themselves represented—books that foster imagination, empathy, and pride in Nigerian identity.
Build sustainable structures that strengthen the children’s book ecosystem in Nigeria.
This partnership represents a shared commitment to investing in creativity, cultural identity, and education. It ensures that the next generation of Nigerian children can access stories that celebrate who they are and where they come from.
In her welcome address, Lola Shoneyin, Founder of Book Buzz Foundation, said The Nigeria Picture Book Project, which marks a significant milestone for the next generation of writers and illustrators across Nigeria, was designed to train, publish, and propel new Nigerian voices into the global children’s book space.
“The Nigeria Picture Book Project is where storytelling meets purpose. With the support of the European Union in Nigeria, we will train dozens of young authors and illustrators, pair them into creative duos, and guide them through the process of producing children’s books that have art and are culturally relevant. These stories would spark imagination, affirm identity, and introduce our youngest readers to the power of possibility.
“Representation matters deeply. Our children deserve to see faces like theirs, names that they recognize, and worlds that reflect their realities and dreams. The books that we are creating will give children the agency to imagine, to question, and to start designing their own futures.
“When a child reads a story that reflects exactly where they belong, they learn to dream without permission. That’s how nations grow storytellers and leaders. Our excitement isn’t only about the books that will emerge, although I can already picture them in classrooms and homes across Nigeria.
“The joy of this project is also the process—watching writers find their rhythm, seeing illustrators groom their talents, designing, supervising layouts and covers, and eventually birthing stories that I hope will outlive us all. That’s the magic,” Shoneyin said.
Shoneyin also spoke about her expectations for the project. “And to our partners at the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and West Africa, your faith in Nigerian creativity is shaping futures. When this project concludes, 20 new children’s book titles will be in circulation, and they will be sent to every state in Nigeria, thereby reflecting the nationwide focus of this project.
“I hope everyone here today will come back to celebrate, to purchase, and to share these books with the children in their lives, because that’s how this circle completes itself—stories written here and also finding readers in Nigeria and globally,” Shoneyin noted.
In his goodwill message, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and to the ECOWAS states, said he was delighted to be at Ouida, especially because The Nigeria Picture Book Project was being launched after a few administrative hiccups.
Lola Shoneyin and Gautier Mignot unveiling the Nigeria Picture Book Project
“The European Union has been supporting culture in Europe for many years, but internationally, it was more a thing for member states. Member states, of course, have always done a lot traditionally for culture. But over the last few years, the EU has also entered this field of international cultural relations and, of course, working hand in hand with the United States,” he said, adding that its international dimension is about connecting people and creatives in poorer countries and helping creators find sustainable economic models, since they have to live on the arts.
He also said the EU, in partnership, provides support through six programs it has launched in Africa to strengthen relationships with the creative sector. “We provide support in particular to policy design, artists, festivals, museums, cultural institutions, and the creative economy,” Mignot said.
Shoneyin told journalists that when she started writing children’s books, what seemed like the natural order for her was to find different ways of being able to train other people to do the same—to be able to write and illustrate children’s books to global standards.
“So that our books can travel, and the young people who are going to be engaged in this project can also have opportunities to take their work outside Nigeria, but more importantly, to share the books and their work in Nigeria itself.
According to Shoneyin, over a 12-month period, Book Buzz will train 24 writers and 24 illustrators between the ages of 21 and 30, with the goal of publishing 20 books. Twelve participants will be selected from each geopolitical zone. “We’re taking six illustrators and six potential writers from each zone, and then they’ll all be trained,” she said.
Why children’s books? “There is a problem with children’s books in Nigeria. There’s a problem with quality, a problem with production, and an issue with access. So this project is one that’s trying to encourage people to understand why it’s so critical that we write for our children.
“We pass on our stories, elements of our culture, and also teach them to be able to think outside the box and think creatively about what the future can look like. I have a bookstore. Most of the books here are from the UK or the US. I want to see more Nigerian books for Nigerian children.
“Nigerian children deserve to be able to see a book and, when they open it, the landscape in the book looks familiar. It’s called representation. It’s very, very important to a child. Or else you feel excluded from the world,” Shoneyin noted, adding that the goal is to disrupt and reinvigorate the children’s publishing sector.
“When people see that children’s books are doing well, it gives young people more options for what they can do when they’re older. But beyond that, it’s a way of giving people employment. It’s a way of, of course, keeping people busy. But I have a soft spot for people who are talented and creative, and I want to do everything that I can to support them. And by the time we’ve done 100 books, I’m pretty sure a lot of people are going to start saying, ‘We want to publish children’s books as well.’ So the point is not only to do it but to do it successfully,” Shoneyin maintained.
However, the high point of the event was when Shoneyin and Mignot unveiled The Nigeria Picture Book Project to applause. The vote of thanks, given by Mazeedat Olutosin, and the photo sessions that followed signaled not just the end of the launch but also the beginning of an initiative set to transform the Nigerian children’s publishing sector.
