World renowned, Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright and political activist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He sometimes wrote of modern West Africa in a satirical style, but his serious intent and his belief in the evils inherent in the exercise of power are usually evident in his work as well. He has written plays such as Death and the King’s Horseman, The Lion and the Jewel, and A Dance of the Forests, as well as novels, poems, essays, and memoirs.

Chuck Mike is an internationally acclaimed playwright, director, and activist whose works have appeared at the Kennedy Centre, Washington, the Royal Theatre in London, the Edinburgh Festival, and the National Theatre in Nigeria. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Nigeria, and now a Professor in Richmond, VA, Mike’s plays include seminal pieces in widely studied styles. His passion for initiating performances for social change in rural and urban communities has taken him worldover.

Emmanuel Dandaura is a Nigerian scholar, theatre/film critic, director, and playwright. He is the President of the Nigerian section of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC), and a professor of theatre and cultural studies at Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Vice Preseident of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, he is an astute researcher and author and was a juror in the 2022 edition of the Dublin Literary Prize.

John Akomfrah is a British artist, writer, film director, screenwriter, theorist and curator of Ghanaian descent, whose “commitment to a radicalism both of politics and of cinematic form finds expression in all his films”. He is a co-founder of the Black Audio Film Collective and the recipient of the 2016 Thalia Prize

Femi Osofisan is a Nigerian writer noted for his critique of societal problems and his use of African traditional performances and surrealism in some of his plays. A frequent theme that his drama explores is the conflict between good and evil. He has written poetry under the pseudonym Okinba Launko, and plays such as Women of Owu, Who’s Afraid of Solarin?, and Tegonni: An African Antigone.

Karen Merkel is a non-executive director of the UK National Commission for UNESCO, and a communications and cultural relations expert with over 30 years of experience in the UK and internationally. She is the co-founder and partner of New Media Networks, and has worked on various projects related to culture, education, science, and media, such as the World Summit on the Information Society and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. She is also the founding editor of online literary platform, WritersMosaic, which showcases international talent.

Gabriel Gbadamosi is a British poet, playwright and novelist of Irish-Nigerian descent. He is the founding editor of the online literary platform WritersMosaic, an initiative of the Royal Literary Fund. He has written plays such as Stop and Search, Shango, and Hotel Orpheu, and a novel, Vauxhall, which won the Tibor Jones Pageturner Prize and Best International Novel at the Sharjah Book Fair

Adam Saffer is an international business and development professional with over 35 years of global investment, development, and executive management experience in frontier and emerging markets. He is adept at helping companies scale, raising local and international commercial and concessionary finance, and co-creating innovative solutions for complex challenges. Adam is also an associate professor of strategic communication at the University of Minnesota.

Chidi is a seasoned Storyliner, and Producer from Nigeria, creating output for a variety of platforms. A former BBC Senior Producer, he manages creative teams in the development of productions for radio, television and film. A co-writer of the Oxford University Press anthology, ‘World Authorship’, Chidi is Creative Direcotr at 2 Masks & a Griot Theatre and the Abuja Festival of Theatre. He is currently also leading a UNESCO Creative Cities bid for the city of Abuja.