Doek Magazine is hosting a literary festival in Namibia. University of East Anglia’s International Chair of Creative Writing, Tsitsi Dangarembga, is backing the festival, which is scheduled to take place from 21-23 April 2022 at the Goethe-Institut in Windhoek, Namibia.

The festival is “a celebration of Namibian and African literature that connects Namibian readers and writers with their counterparts in Africa and the African diaspora.” It is also very much in keeping with Doek’s founding mission “to nurture and grow the country’s literary culture while providing a creative and immersive space for encountering the works of Namibian and other African writers.”

The festival will be a biennial event. Each edition will focus on a different literary form. 2022 is fiction. The organizers promise an avalanche of exciting events ranging from workshops, readings, panel discussions, and musical performances.

In a press statement, Rémy Ngamije, founding editor of Doek Magazine, expressed excitement about working with Dangarembga:

“In partnering with the UEA’s International Chair of Creative Writing, headed by acclaimed Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga, Doek has been provided with the funding, conceptualisation resources, planning capacity, and organisational support needed to make this milestone event possible… UEA is an institution whose influence in literature and creative writing is felt around the world, and to have their support in this project reaffirms the work we do at Doek. It also hints at future growth possibilities for our emerging literary scene. I am thrilled that UEA’s ICCW decided to focus its attention on Namibia and Namibian writers in 2022.”

Professor Jean McNeil, who is in charge of UEA’s International Chair program commented:

“It is a great pleasure to be able to contribute to a vibrant and growing literary community in Namibia, working with Rémy and Doek. Doek embodies the values our programme seeks to uphold: initiative, innovation and a belief in African stories and voices. We are immensely proud to support the first ever festival of literary writing in Namibia.”

For updates on the event, go here.