The iBuyambo Book Festival 2026, themed “Our Words. Our Work. Our Freedom,” will take place on February 20 – 21, 2026, in Langa, Cape Town, South Africa. It will coincide with International Mother Tongue Day, which is February 21, reinforcing its commitment to linguistic heritage.
First held in Langa in December 2023, the iBuyambo Book Festival celebrates indigenous languages, empowers writers, and engages the community through readings, launches, panel discussions, and performances. Following a successful second edition in 2025, the festival returns to the continent’s southernmost city to advance indigenous-language storytelling, publishing, literacy, and creative economies.
For 2026, the festival confronts a critical challenge: only 2% of commercially published trade books in South Africa are in indigenous African languages. Moving beyond lament, IBuyambo tackles this issue head-on through conversations on language as livelihood, literature as liberation, translation, publishing access, youth pathways, and family literacy.
Under the theme “Our Words. Our Work. Our Freedom,” the festival positions indigenous languages not only as cultural heritage, but as vital sites of work, knowledge, power, and future-making. The programme includes main-hall discussions with writers, translators, publishers, and scholars; a youth programme focused on language and possibility; and a family literacy stream responding to South Africa’s reading comprehension crisis.
To stay up-to-date with this festival, we recommend following them on Facebook or Instagram.
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