Doek! Magazine has announced the longlist of the 2025 Bank Windhoek Literary Awards, composed of Namibian writers, poets, and visual artists.
The longlist features contributors whose works appeared in the magazine between Issue 12: Soon/Come (December 2023) and Issue 15: The Throne and the Crown (July 2025). These writers and artists’ works have successfully been contributing to capturing the complex history and heritages that shape Namibia.
Fiction
- Hugh Ellis – “Flesh of the Sun” (Issue 15, July 2025)
- Katherine Hunter – “What the Sycamores Saw” (Issue 15, July 2024)
- Tjimamutja Pehape Katjiongua – “V and Jen” (Issue 12, December 2023)
- Jason Kooper – “Untethered” (Issue 13, August 2024)
- Jeremy Tiboth – “Poisoned Pawn” (Issue 14, December 2024
Non-Fiction
- Filemon Iiyambo – “Sonic Overload: Auralgraph From Cairo” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
- Perivi Katjivivi – “I’ll Tell You Why I Was Late For Church Yesterday: Auralgraph From Gobabis, 1965” (Issue 14: December, 2024)
Poetry
- Jedidja Kakuva: “In The Shadow Of Reflection”, “Man Enough”, and “When I Wake Up” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
- Vekondjisa Nosipho Katusuva: “Aminus: Pos 11”, “Identity”, “I Have Not Yet Learned To Swim” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
- Ethel Mwalifa: “Enough”, “If Broken Glass Floated”, “To Be Forgotten” (Issue 14: December, 2024)
- Scholastika Namutenya Negongo: “A Departed Body And Soul” and “A Road” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
- Johannes Shikongo: “The Algorithm Of Fading Fathers”, “The Ombindu That Remains Of Us”, “The Oshikundu That Never Fermented” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
- Tjizembua Tjikuzu: “Portrait Of My Grandfather” and “Fig Tree” (Issue 13: August, 2024)
Visual Art
- Martin Amushendje: “Between Light And Shadow” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
- Luigi Arnat: “Solitude” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
- Natache Sylvia Ilonga: “Kasino Street” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
- Omen Keisho: “Your Wings From The Back” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Founded in 2019, Doek! Magazine is Namibia’s first literary magazine. It is dedicated to fostering a vibrant literary culture by publishing short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art from Namibia, Africa, and the African diaspora.
Congratulations to all longlisted writers, poets and visual artists!
Sarah Adeyemo
Sarah Adeyemo is a poet, writer, editor, and spoken word artiste from Nigeria. She is a fellow of the SprinNG Writing Fellowship. Sarah has work published or forthcoming work in ANMLY Lit, D’Iit Review, The Fiery Scribe Review, Con-Scio Magazine, Sevhage Review, Okiti Literary, Synchronized Chaos Magazine, Pepper Coast Magazine, The Weeds Review, Akpata Magazine, The Shallow Tales Review, The Muse Journal, The Weganda Review, Everscribe Magazine, Afrillhill Press, TV-63 Magazine, Poems for Persons Interest, Northern Writers Forum Journal, Eboquills, Rinna Lit. Anthologies, and elsewhere. Her works have been shortlisted for the 2025 Labari Prize for Poetry and longlisted for the 2025 Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize. She serves as the Managing Editor at Words-Empire Magazine, a Poetry Editor at Yarnz Magazine, PFPOI, and a News & Feature writer at the Journal of African Youth Literature (JAY Lit). She was a writing resident of the Rongo Artist Residency in 2026 and is currently a writing resident at the Ebedi International Writers Residency. She is a member of The Swan Collective. A dramatic poet who tweets @sarahinkspires.
