Doek Literary Festival returns to city

The end of September is for Namibia’s writers and readers as the Doek Literary Festival returns to Windhoek.

The biennial festival will take place at Goethe-Institut Namibia from 30 September to 3 October as a celebration of Doek! Literary Magazine’s contributors and collaborators featured alongside a wealth of international writers, poets, visual artists and designers.

Curated by author, Doek Arts Trust founder and festival director Rémy Ngamije, the free festival will be held under the theme ‘History is Handmade’.

Festivities include a programme of conversations, creative writing workshops, visual art exhibitions as well as poetry and musical performances.

Featured writers are Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (United States), Ayesha Harruna Attah (Ghana), Roxane Bayer (Namibia), Abdi Latif Dahir (Kenya), Pumla Dineo Gqola (South Africa), Filemon Iiyambo (Namibia), Femi Kayode (Nigeria), Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe), Samuel Mayinoti (Zimbabwe), Xavierie Mbangtang (Cameroon), Polo Moji (Lesotho), Frankie Murrey (South Africa), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (Zimbabwe), Laura Nkula-Wenz (Germany and South Africa), Ondjaki (Angola), and Clarise Reichley (United States).

“The Doek Literary Festival is an integral part of Doek’s mission to nurture and grow the country’s reading and writing culture while providing a creative and immersive space for engaging with the works of Namibian, African, and international literary artists,” says Ngamije.

“For visiting literary artists, the Doek Literary Festival offers glimpses into Windhoek’s social, economic, political, and cultural life – in this way, the festival is a portal of encounter that places the curious traveller close to the pulse of the city’s rhythms.”

Doek Literary Festival is currently in its third iteration and is hosted in partnership with Bank Windhoek and supported by the Directorate of Arts in the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture.

Official partners are Windham Campbell Prizes, Goethe-Institut Namibia, Caine Prize for African Writing and the European Union Delegation to Namibia.

“The inclusion of visual art exhibitions, poetry and musical performances, and activities such as creative writing workshops creates an interactive and engaging festival experience that showcases the breadth and depth of storytelling,” says Ngamije.

The 2026 Doek Literary Festival poets are Justin Boening (United States), Hugh Ellis-Mwiya (Namibia), Nathalie Handal (United States), Jedidja Kakuva (Namibia), Vekondjisa Nosipho Katusuva (Namibia), Michael Kelleher (United States), Buhlenbenkosi Ndhlovu (Zimbabwe and Namibia), Gregory Pardlo (United States), Johannes Shikongo (Namibia), Jeremy Tiboth (Namibia), and Devon Walker-Figueroa (United States).

“The 2026 Doek Literary Festival lineup features exciting award-winning authors and writers from local and international literature, bold visual artists, poets producing resonant poetry, and vinyl selectors and musicians who spin and play music that moves the mind, body, and soul,” says Ngamije.

The festival’s musicians and selectors include Querida, Brother Mbango, DJ Musketeer and Le Roux van Schalkwyk.

Featured visual artists are Katherine Hunter (Namibia) and Amine Serhane (Morocco). Special guests are architect and designer Joyce Hwang (United States) and The Book Lounge and Open Book’s Mervyn Sloman (South Africa).

“For the first time, a practical calligraphy component will allow participants to immerse themselves in one of the oldest forms of writing while a culinary concept offers tantalising flavours and textures of home,” says Ngamije of collaborations with Serhane and Bellhaus Atelier & Galerie.

“This year, the festival will direct its collective consciousness to ask what lies beyond dreaming and the imagination, what one does after reading and writing, and what meaningful actions can be taken when the last page has been turned and the final full stop has been inked,” says Ngamije.

“Space and spaces, solace and silences, actions and inactions, pulses that quicken, sounds that spin, bodies that dance to the rhythm of thoughts, stories and their storytellers – these are just some of the ideas that will animate the 2026 Doek Literary Festival.”

For the full programme, workshop registration and more information, visit festival.doek.africa

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