The Doek Literary Festival 2024 is set to run at the Goethe-Institut in Windhoek, Namibia from August 21 – 24, 2024. The theme is "IndePENdence—freedom through reading and writing."
Doek is an arts organization that runs the Doek Literary magazine and the Doek Literary Awards based in Namibia. In 2022, the organisation hosted Doek Literary Festival, its first literary festival in the Southern African country's capital. It was a celebration of Namibian and African literature connecting Namibian readers and writers with their counterparts in Africa and the African diaspora. The event's principal sponsor was the creative writing programme at the University of East Anglia in Norfolk, United Kingdom.
The organisers announced the return of the festival with the theme "IndePENdence—freedom through reading and writing" on Monday, May 13. This year the literary shebang is sponsored by Bank Windhoek and the Windham Campbell Prizes while Goethe-Institut Namibia will provide the venue for the festival and the transport means for daily excursions.
"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 very best in world literature. For lovers of photography, two of Namibia's most promising photographers will also be exhibiting their works and talking about the way they approach their craft."
The featured guests at this year's festival will be poets, writers, and visual artists from the host country of Namibia as well as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Some these are Roxane Bayer (Namibia), Charmaine //Gamxamus (Namibia), Veripuami Nandee Kangumine (Namibia), Namafu Amutse (Namibia), Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa (Namibia), Chiké Frankie Edozien (Nigeria), Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo (Namibia), Ishion Hutchinson (Jamaica), Filemon Iiyambo (Namibia), Femi Kayode (Nigeria), Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia & USA), Nelson Mlambo (Zimbabwe), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (Zimbabwe), Troy Onyango (Kenya), Ondjaki (Angola), David Smuts (Namibia), Mukoma Wa Ngūgī (Kenya), and Zukiswa Wanner (South Africa).
Other sponsors are Gondwana Collection Namibia—the accommodation partner—who will provide the international writers with a truly comfortable Namibian welcome; Turipamwe—the design partner—will be responsible for creating an immersive festival experience; and, the Book Den—the bookshop partner—will ensure all of the writers' books are available for enjoyment.
Please visit the festival's official website to keep up with the happenings in Namibia, where programs will start popping up closer to the date. We recommend that you start blocking off the dates to get your way to Windhoek in the third week of August.
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