Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian leading novelist, public intellectual and feminist, has been announced as the headliner of the inaugural edition of the ‘Things Fall Apart’ festival in Enugu.

Organised by the Enugu-based Centre for Memories – Ncheta Ndigbo, the festival is a bold attempt to expand the annual Things Fall Apart Day, currently in its fifth year, to a full-blown festival that best approximates the stature of the revered storyteller Chinua Achebe in world literature.

Adichie will lead a cast of other artists, storytellers, poets and other creatives to the festival and will deliver the keynote address, which draws heavily from the festival theme: ‘Masculine, Feminine, Human – The Dialogue of Complements in Things Fall Apart.’

Adichie who has been on a globe-trot, promoting ‘Dream Count,’ her highly anticipated new novel after a decade-long hiatus, returns home to honour the memory of one of her greatest literary influences and explore “the Achebean inheritance”—a powerful reflection on storytelling, cultural rootedness, and the timeless dialogue between history and identity.

The festival theme further invites a critical look at the harmony and tension between gender ideals in Achebe’s work, anchoring it on contemporary conversations on identity, humanity, and cultural balance.

The week-long cultural immersion starting from June 29 to July 5 is designed to honour Achebe’s legacy through art, performance, technology, and scholarship with a re-imagination and recreation of the Umuofia Village experience, dramatic performances and staged readings, saloon conversations with cultural thought leaders and immersive tech installations.

It will also feature an art exhibition, an essay competition for students in senior secondary and tertiary institutions and the general public, film screenings and guided memory walks.

There will be a special appearance by the leading actors in the major adaptation of ‘Things Fall Apart’ into a television series in 1987, in which the Nollywood icon, Pete Edochie, starred as Okonkwo. The iconic Ajofia masquerade, which played a prominent role in the book, shall also make a grand entry into the re-imagined Umuofia village at the festival.

Established in 2017, the Centre for Memories – Ncheta Ndigbo was born out of a vision to create a world-class museum and cultural institution that serves as a leading repository of Ìgbò history, heritage, and identity. Rooted in the commitment to preserve and promote the collective memory of Ndi Ìgbò, the Centre documents and showcases the rich Ìgbò culture, traditions, and historical excellence. (THISDAY)