A true renaissance man, Ben Okri collaborated with Estonian composer Timo Steiner, providing a text as inspiration for New Piece for Piano Quintet. The original composition was played alongside readings by Okri from his novels Astonishing the Gods and The Famished Road at a concert in the HELIjaKEEL series in Estonia. Steiner explained what he saw as the synergies between Okri’s writing and his music:

Reading Ben Okri, a clear realization hit me that I want to write something which springs from the same tuning as his texts – something warm, dark, moist, and spell-casting, something colourfully eventful, as well as compassion-inducing, transcending the boundaries of life and death…

From a film script to pop song lyrics and from poetry on portraiture to inspiring contemporary composition, Ben Okri has done it all. We await great things at this years Africa Writes. Book your tickets to see Okri here: http://bit.ly/1aAKIe7