About HIBAF
A crisscross festival of arts and language
HIBAF is a festival by and for African creatives across Europe, West and East Africa — with a touch of what the arts in Hausa ought to be.
Register for 2026
Editions
Five editions. One language.
Since 2021 HIBAF has explored Hausa spaces, identity, diaspora, popular culture, and knowledge — each edition unlocking a different dimension of the culture.
What HIBAF is
HIBAF opens up discussions about the Hausa language through history, music and arts. It is a space for African creatives — writers, poets, musicians, visual artists, performers — working in the Hausa tradition or drawn to it.
The festival celebrates the breadth of Hausa cultural expression: from Ajami manuscripts to contemporary fiction, from traditional performance to digital art. Each edition takes a theme that unlocks a different conversation about what the Hausa world is and can become.
In 2026 HIBAF becomes a multi-city festival for the first time, visiting London, Kaduna, and Abuja.