The Open Book Festival 2025 took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from September 5 to 7, 2025. Here are some of the highlights.
The Open Book Festival is an annual literary festival held in Cape Town, South Africa, since 2011. It has hosted many of the leading writers and poets in South Africa, across the continent, and even overseas, to panel discussions, book launches and readings, author chats, poetry recitals, community engagements, and more.
This year started with a funding crisis that necessitated a call out for help so that the show could go on. The help came from individuals and corporations, and even the city finally came through to ensure that the dream for a world-class literary festival was held in town. And what a show it was with 64 or so events over three days at the Homecoming Centre and the Book Lounge.
Professional and semi-professional writers will attend festivals as part of their efforts to market their books to readers and the general public. Those who attend many across the continent will encounter a variation of panels and questions that writers who attended the Makerere Writers Conference in 1962 would have found comfortable answering. What is the place of language in the production of literature? What tips for the youth do you have? What are your writing habits or schedules? While it might be exciting for a new writer or audience member, once one has been to one or two festivals, it can get tiring quite quickly.
“At Open Book, we imagine that the writers who are attending have already done some festivals,” Open Book’s Frankie Murrey told me. “We try and do things that might stimulate them more when they come here.”
And stimulate them, they did. At Writer’s Sports, one of the festival’s signature events expertly managed by Mervyn Sloman, Alistair Mackay, Lesedi Molefi, Remy Ngamije, Paige Nick, and Zibu Sithole, competed in two teams. They received prompts, ChatGPT style, from Sloman and the audience and came up with texts that would entertain everyone in the room. That applause appreciation, which came via cheering, was measured with a handy gadget and then tabulated on a scoreboard. After all the rounds, Remy Ngamije would emerge victorious as his wit wowed the Open Book crowd. Another competition was the Letterhead Quiz, where teams of up to six were quizzed on all things Bookish.
There were other events that you would only see at the Open Book Festival, like “Conversations with Mohale,” conducted by Mohale Mashigo and featuring Goretti Kyomuhendo, Pumla Dineo Gqola, and Zulaikha Patel, covering the topic “Are We Tired Yet?” The first two panellists are respected in the writing space with multiple titles between them, while Ms Patel was a newer name, recently emerging as a children’s writer. They explained in an illuminating conversation how they managed to stave off the fatigue in their lives and their work. Other events centreing on women were “Difficult Mothers” (Antjie Krog, Lebo Mazibuko, and Malika Ndlovu moderated by Buhle Ngaba) and “Pregnant Expectations” (Joy Watson speaking to Rebecca Gore, Lebo Mazibuko, and Karen Vermeulen).
Another innovative use of the author was by Koketso Sachane, who chatted with Nthato Mokgata, Sven Axelrad, and Remy Ngamije about the “Soundscape of Masculinity.” The writers shared some music and had a conversation about how it affected their lives and writing. It was moving listening to the music the men selected, followed by their explanations for their motivations. We witnessed a tearful Sven Axelrad as he explained his music choices; those tears made me want to get a copy of his new book. Another male-centred panel was “Policing of Masculinity,” moderated by Lester Kiewit with Ryan Pedro, Werner Pretorius, and Jess Rakabe.
It might have been unique, but it was still a literary festival, so there were several one-on-one conversation variations on offer. Tsitsi Dangarembga was the standout event as she engaged Maneo Mohale on her life and work at one of the best-attended events all weekend. Other people who found themselves in one-on-one conversations were Haidar Eid, Popina Khumanda, Mpho Mashego, and Michelle Myako Kekana.
There were dozens of events with titles like “From Pan Africanism to the Black Atlantic,” “The Secret Keepers,” “Speaking To The Next Generation,””Created in Africa,” “African Cosmologies as a World of Magnitude,” “Inherited Systems,” “Queering Intimacy,” “Fiction as Healing,” “Living In Crisis,” “Facing Death,” “What The Water Gave Me,” “Unlikely Friendships,” and many others all with thoughtful moderators and knowledgeable passionate panellists.
For those who wish to verify our claims, the sessions will be uploaded to the Open Book social media channels (especially YouTube and Spotify) so you can enjoy the awesomeness that was shared. Please subscribe to be informed
We haven’t even started on the market where people could buy crafts, the events dedicated to children, writing workshops, Wale Lawal screening his video podcast, Siphokazi Jonas celebrating one year of her poetry collection Weeping Becomes A River, while uHlanga Press celebrated a decade and more.
Here are some of the sights at the festival, courtesy of Open Book Festival. All photos have been taken by iSkeem Semicimbi.
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