Nigeria and the UK will host an international public forum that will not only explore the role of translation literature in expanding Nigeria’s creative economy, but also raise global visibility for the country’s many languages.
The event, to be held at the Mamman Jiya Vatsa Writers Village on March 27, 2026, is organised by Open Arts Development Foundation with the support of SOAS University of London and the International Science Partnerships (ISPF) ODA Fund.
It will convene writers, translators, publishers, and scholars to address the theme “Building Networks, Partnerships, and Infrastructure for Literary Translation between the UK and Nigeria”.
In other parts of the world, translators are as respected as authors. They breathe new life into authors’ works by translating them into multiple languages, thereby expanding their readership. Today, translators win literary prizes like the International Booker Prize, where the cash prize is split equally between the writer and the author.
In Nigeria, however, literature penned in the indigenous language is nearly non-existent. Traditional publishers won’t touch literature written in indigenous languages, nor will they publish translations of popular Nigerian English literature, be it in the three main languages or major world languages.
Project Organiser, Dr Carmen McCain, reaffirms this unfortunate situation.
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“Nigeria has one of the most vibrant literary cultures in Africa. While the country is best known internationally for its English-language literature, there are tens of thousands of novels in Hausa, yet fewer than ten have been translated into English.
“Other Nigerian language literatures are also rarely translated or circulated internationally. By bringing together writers, translators, and publishers, we hope to build stronger networks that can support translation and help Nigerian stories reach wider audiences, while also following Ngugi wa Thiong’o to encourage writers to ‘enrich’ Nigerian languages by translating other African and world literatures into those languages.”
To deliver the keynote lecture at the event is literary translator Ida Hadjivayanis, who has translated two novels by Nobel Literature Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah into Swahili. Hadjivayanis will expound on the role of translation in connecting African literary markets and supporting creative industries.
Panel discussions at the event will address translation literature issues such as the lack of translation, how to boost the publication of translated African literature, how to develop sustainable translation careers, and how to expand the market for literature written in indigenous Nigerian languages.
“Strengthening literary translation will create opportunities for writers, translators, publishers, and readers,” said Open Arts Development Foundation curator and founder Hausa International Book and Arts Festival, Sada Malumfashi.
“By building stronger networks, we can ensure that stories written in our languages travel further and reach a new generation of readers”.
