In 2008 we began the annual Garden City Literary Festival, renamed the Port Harcourt Book Festival. This cultural combo grew from a three-day affair to a six-day one comprising a book fair, workshops, symposia, author readings, open mic sessions, drama performances. This event draws multitudes to the city annually. Keynote speakers have included Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, Ghana’s Kofi Awonoor and Ama Ata Aidoo, Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ivorian author Veronique Tadjo  and American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson. Special guests have included American writer Petrina Crockford, Jamaican writer Lindsay Barrett and former CNN correspondent Femi Oke. Children are an important part of the festival and special workshops, ‘role model’ reading sessions and scheduled visits to the book fair are part of the events planned for them. Additionally, children are granted an opportunity to showcase their talent on the last day of the festival.