Ideas in the room.
Conversations that question, connect and open up new ways of seeing.
Sterling × Aké Arts & Book Festival 2026
THE FUTURE
IS LISTENING.
What will it learn from us?
BOOKSARTIDEASMUSICPOETRYCULTURE
Intelligence has
always been
native.
It's in the proverb your grandmother taught you. The shortcut you know by heart. The rhythm, the craft, the language, the stories we carry.
As technology learns new things, Aké 2026 invites us to celebrate everything we've always known and imagine what we can create next, together.
This is Native Intelligence.
Three days.
One big conversation.
Books. Art. Ideas. Music. Poetry. Culture.
Join writers, artists, thinkers and creatives for the 14th edition of Aké Arts & Book Festival.
Find a new world.
Books, stories and the people who bring them to life.
Feel it together.
Music, poetry and culture. The moments that stay with you.
How native is
your intelligence?
No Google. No AI. Just you.
From proverbs and literature to history, language and culture, how much do you really know?
Put your knowledge to the test and discover how much wisdom you’ve been carrying all along.
Wisdom worth
passing on.
Knowledge lives in people. And every generation has something worth passing on.
Explore the words, proverbs and lessons that remind us where wisdom begins.
“Ọmọ tí a kò kọ́, ni yóò gbé ilé tí a kọ́ tà.”
“Onye kwe, chi ya ekwe.”
“However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source.”
“Kowa yayi hakuri zai samu riba.”
“You’re as knowledgeable as the ignorance you are willing to acknowledge, as comfortable as the sacrifices you have resolved to make, and as free as the consequences you are committed to live with.”
“Luck is simply opportunity meeting preparation, and preparation means a lot of hard work.”
“If you lose the pace, don’t lose the miles.”
“Be in uncomfortable groups, that’s the nature of diversity and the price of learning.”
“Your advantages do not make you superior. Your exposure, your talent, your skills, your mental strength are the advantages you’re bestowed with.”
Backing stories.
Opening possibilities.
At Sterling, we believe progress begins with ideas worth sharing. Our partnership with Aké creates more room for African voices, fresh perspectives and the conversations that shape tomorrow.
Because the future should hear from all of us.
Explore the festival
THE FUTURE
IS LISTENING.
And we all have something worth sharing.
Join the conversations shaping what comes next.
Join us at Aké 202619–21 November · Lagos, Nigeria