Doek! Literary Magazine has announced the longlist for the 2025 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards, celebrating the best works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art published in the magazine between December 2023 and July 2025.

Now in its third edition, the biennial prize continues to spotlight Namibian literary and artistic talent, giving emerging and established voices a platform to shine on both local and global stages. The awards remain the country’s only prize dedicated to contemporary writing and visual art.

The 2025 awards are judged by a panel of Namibian and international literary and arts professionals committed to recognizing excellence across genres and mediums. They include Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo, Samuel Mayinoti, Sylvia Schlettwein and Michelle Van Wyk.

This year’s longlist features 17 fiction pieces, 5 nonfiction essays, 18 poems, and 8 works of visual art, drawn from Doek! Issues 12 through 15.

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)

NONFICTION

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)