With their published works forming the creative framework for discussion, the eclectic collection of writers, poets, and visual artists curated in this year’s festival lineup will explore the delights, dangers, past dreams, present conditions, and future challenges of storytelling in the country, Africa, and the world.
The Doek Literary Festival is hosted every two years in Namibia. It celebrates Namibian literature alongside literary artists from Africa and the African diaspora.
The festival seeks 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. It also provides unique learning and creative exchange opportunities through workshops, readings, and performances.
Each edition of the festival focuses on a particular field of literary creation that is published in Doek! Literary Magazine: fiction, nonfiction, visual arts, or poetry.
Every iteration of the Doek Literary Festival is led by a design partner that creates the experiential aspects of the festival. Doek chooses a design partner with a proven track record of working with or promoting the arts in Namibia. Doek also chooses a venue partner that provides the hosting facilities for the festival.
Guided by an artistic spirit, Doek’s work focuses on the literary arts and seeks to build a locally-adapted, socially responsible, and transparent model for arts funding in Namibia.
While Doek’s primary mandate is supporting the literary arts in Namibia, it also seeks to connect Namibian storytellers with their counterparts on the continent and in the African diaspora.
The festival runs from the 21st to the 24th of August 2024 in Windhoek, Namibia.
For more information on the festival, visit their official website on www.festival.doek.africa.com
Bongiwe T. Maphosa
Bongiwe Maphosa is a writer whose fiction and poetry offers fresh, imaginative perspectives on the human condition. Her work has been published in prominent literary spaces, including Isele Magazine, Akowdee Magazine, the AVBOB Poetry Anthology, Journal of African Youth in Literature (JAY Lit), and more. She was also nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology. Bongiwe is one of six writers selected for the inaugural Caine Prize Online Editing program and serves as a content writer, peer reviewer, and tier three awards judge for JAYLit. Bridging inner reflection with speculative worlds, she continues to carve out a distinctive voice within contemporary African literature for a growing global audience.
