The Doek Literary Festival returns with second edition in August

Doek, in partnership with Bank Windhoek, is proud to announce the second edition of the Doek Literary Festival, which will take place at the Goethe-Institut in Windhoek from Wednesday, 21 August until Saturday, 24 August 2024. Attendance is free of charge.

A biennial event, the Doek Literary Festival celebrates the works of writers, poets, and visual artists who have contributed to Doek! Literary Magazine, which seeks to showcase the best of Namibian literature alongside works from Africa and the African diaspora. The festival is integral to Doek’s mission to nurture and grow the country’s reading and writing culture while providing a creative and immersive space for encountering the works of Namibian and African writers, poets, and visual artists. This year’s writers, performing poets, visual artists and performing musicians are:

Writers: Roxane Bayer (Namibia), Chiké Frankie Edozien(Nigeria), Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo (Namibia), Ishion Hutchinson(Jamaica), Filemon Iiyambo (Namibia), Maaza Mengiste(Ethiopia & USA), Nelson Mlambo (Zimbabwe), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Troy Onyango(Kenya), Ondjaki(Angola), David Smuts (Namibia), Mukoma Wa Ngūgī (Kenya) and Zukiswa Wanner (South Africa).

Performing poets: Charmaine //Gamxamus (Namibia) and Veripuami Nandee Kangumine (Namibia). Visual artists: Namafu Amutse (Namibia) and Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa (Namibia). Performing musicians: Querida, Gabes, and Slow.

With Bank Windhoek as the festival’s official sponsor, the 2024 Doek Literary Festival is a coming-of-age gathering that boasts an exciting roster of award-winning authors, poets, photographers, and musicians. Festival attendants can look forward to panel discussions, creative writing workshops, and musical performances focusing on this year’s theme: “IndePENdence—freedom through reading and writing.”

The eclectic collection of writers, poets, and visual artists—from Namibia, Angola, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe—curated in the lineup will explore the delights, dangers, past dreams, present conditions, and future challenges of storytelling in the country, Africa, and the world with their published works as the backdrops for exciting enquiry.

“Thanks to Bank Windhoek’s ongoing support, the second edition of the Doek Literary Festival has been able to draw on literary talent from as far as Jamaica and the United States to bring local readers and writers in contact with storytellers of the highest calibre,” said Rémy Ngamije, Doek’s founder and chairperson and the current festival director. “It is an opportunity for readers and writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to learn from the best in world literature.

For photography lovers, two of Namibia’s most promising photographers will also exhibit their works and talking about how they approach their craft.”

Co-sponsored by the Windham Campbell Prizes, the Doek Literary Festival continues an ongoing collaboration with international literary organisations, supporting Doek’s work to establish Namibia as a vibrant community of readers and writers and a literary destination. In 2022, the inaugural festival was hosted by the University of East Anglia’s International Chair of Creative Writing.

“The planning, organisation, and hosting capacities needed to make this festival a success is almost immeasurable,” Ngamije said. Thus, I am delighted that Doek—through the support of its patron, the honourable Justice David Smuts, and the board of trustees—was able to secure a Namibian cast of festival partners to help make it a success.