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
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.