Renowned performance poet and literary scholar Oko Owi Ocho, also known as Owoicho Oko, is set to host fans, literary enthusiasts, and members of the creative community at Afrika-Writes 2025. The event will feature the presentation of his forthcoming poetry collection, a highly anticipated event within Nigeria’s contemporary arts scene.
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The event holds in Suite 002, The Fusion Plaza, Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Wuye, Abuja, Abuja on the 12th of December, 2025 at 3:00pm.
The theme for Afrika-Writes 2025 is “The Remembering”, which asks vital questions about collective memories of the pre-colonial African life and the need “to change certain formations caused by our colonial experience”. In an invite to AkweyaTV, Oko Owi Ocho asks, “How does looking back at the material history of Africa move us to confront the existential crisis that we face today?”, a question that echoes AkweyaTV’s founding ethos that reflect in the broadcaster’s focus on history, art, culture and development.
Afrika-Writes uses theatre-performances, keynotes, poetry, and conversations to ask questions of decolonisation through intergenerational dialogue. This year’s theme is a gesture inspired by one of the central arguments in Prof Udenta O. Udenta’s Crisis of Theory in Contemporary Nigerian Literature. “With the damage caused by colonialism, there is an obvious crisis engulfing contemporary Nigerian society,” Owoicho Oko said.
A seasoned creative with an impressive academic and artistic pedigree, Oko holds a BA in English and is currently pursuing an MA in Literature, specialising in Theory and Decoloniality. He is the founder and team lead of Afrika-Writes, and formerly served as Creative Director of the Benue Poetry Troupe, where he helped shape a new generation of performance poets.
He has a growing list of honours that reflect his influence and consistency in the art-for-development space. He was longlisted for the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (2017), received an NSPP Award of Excellence in 2018 for his poem “Zeyani”, and clinched second place at the Korea-Nigeria Poetry Prize (2018). His published poetry collection We Will Sing Water received praise for its depth and cultural resonance, while the work that’s about to presented, Now I Sing God into Stones, is already generating excitement in literary circuits.
Oko’s academic and intellectual contributions are equally robust. His forthcoming critical works — Culture, Coloniality, and the African Being and In Defence of a Generation: Its Poetics, Politics, and Radicalism — continue his commitment to unpacking culture, identity, and the philosophical underpinnings of African literature. He is also developing a major monograph titled Ecocriticism and the Decolonial Turn: Climate Justice and Nonhuman Agency, expanding conversations at the intersection of literature, the environment, and decolonial thought.
Beyond his own writing, Oko is known for championing poetry as a medium for social development. He has consistently used his performances and platforms to address themes such as marginalisation, violence, mental health, and cultural ecology. Through Afrika-Writes, he has organised workshops for young adults and secondary school students, teaching them how art can function as a powerful instrument of social action.
A significant part of his advocacy focuses on amplifying the voices of minority ethnic groups in North-Central Nigeria, ensuring they are included in national and scholarly conversations on development. His fusion of performance art and activism has positioned him as one of the leading young voices redefining literary engagement in the region.
The upcoming presentation of his poetry collection is expected to draw writers, students, educators, and art lovers eager to experience his latest work and engage with his evolving vision for African literature.
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