Hargeysa International Book Fair 2025 starts tomorrow!

The Hargeysa International Book Fair 2025, with the theme “Africa,” runs in Hargeisa, Somaliland from July 26 – 31, 2025.

The Hargeysa International Book Fair, first hosted in Hargeisa, Somaliland in 2008, has grown to become the biggest literary extravaganza in the Horn of Africa and one of the biggest on the continent. It has hosted some of the leading writers, journalists, academics, publishers, artists, and other professionals from dozens of nations in Africa and further afield.

For 2025, the festival returns with panel discussions, poetry and music performances, book launches and readings, and more from July 26 – 31, 2025. This year, proceedings will run under the theme “Africa,” and the partner country is “Zambia.”

The speakers come from the host country, the focus country, Zambia, and other countries further afield, including writers, poets, academics, journalists, publishing professionals, researchers, politicians, corporate executives, and other professionals. They include Hargeysa International Book Fair patron Edna Adan Ismail, Redsea Cultural Foundation Director Dr. Jama Musse Jama, and Abdikarim Ahmed Mooge, Mayor of Hargeysa City, who will feature at the opening ceremony. Others will include Victor Mutelekesh, Sumili Kipenda, Victoria Phiri Chitungu, Hannah Mwenzi Siliya, Zahra Jibril, Cabdiraxmaan Yuusuf Carten, Dr Foutima Mohamoud Haaji Ali, Dr Idiris Yousuf, Nasra Dahir, Esse Musse, Mustafe Adam, Mustafe Shifo, Abdikarim Yusuf, Helen Pickering, Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, Mohamed Sharma’arke, Dhool Y. Hassan, Abdifatah Mohamed, Hamdi Husein Mohamed, Aisha Mohamed Yusuf, Mukhtar Adam Saleban, Shukri Cusmaan Geeddi, Mohamed Adem Shire, Amina Isir, Muna Ahmed, Khadar Mariano, Mushtaaq Cabdi Nour, Abdiqani Adan, Max Webb, Victor Mutelekesha, Dr Najah Adam, Daniel Thompson, Clare Bath, Dr. Mustafe Hassan Dahir, Abdikarim Hikmawi, Dr Idiris Yousuf, Abdifatah Quraishi, Idil Muhumed, Moustafa Ahmad, Laia Garcia Fernandez, Giorgio Talocci, Marwad Keyse, Muna Abdalla Ahmed Ismail, Abdirahman Elmi, Kayse Hussein, Mubarak Ahmed Mahmoud, Mubarik Abdulahi Ibrahim, Ismaaciil C Ubax, Abdirisaaq Xasiliye, Ahmed Adam Abdillahi “Saajin”, Suhayb Maxamed Cali “Sidci”, Dr. Géraldine Pinauldt, Dr. Christina Woolner, Tirsit Yetbarek, Omar Yusuf Ali, Hoodo Kaaba, Abdinasir Sahal, Naima M. Samatar, Mohamed Abdilahi, Najah Hasssan, Amal Ali, and Zakaria Abdirahman Mohamed.

For more information on the fair, we recommend either their Instagram or official website.