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Weltwortreisende 2025 starts October 16
Weltwortreisende (World Word Travellers) 2025, with the theme “light impermeability,” will be hosted in Graz, Austria, from October 16 – 18, 2025. Weltwortreisende (World Word Travellers) is a literary festival organised by Fiston Mwanza Mujila and Robert Reithofer in Graz, Austria, since 2021. It aims to introduce great black voices in literature who, despite their…
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Sunday Times Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced
The Sunday Times Literary Awards 2025 shortlists were announced in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday, October 5, 2025. The Sunday Times Literary Awards are awarded annually in fiction (since 1989) and nonfiction (since 2001). Organised by South African newspaper The Sunday Times, it has been won in recent times by Jacob Dlamini and Damon Galgut (2015), Pumla Dineo…
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Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor hosted to Lagos events
Award-winning novelist and short story writer Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor was hosted to a series of events in Lagos at the tail end of September 2025. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor is not a new name to those who read our reporting here at Writing Africa. The Kenyan novelist, the author of the novels Dust (2013) and The…
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Pa Gya! A Literary Festival 2025 for Accra starting October 17
The Pa Gya! A Literary Festival 2025 with the theme “Connection” will be hosted in Accra, Ghana, from October 17 – 19, 2025. Pa Gya! A Literary Festival is a literary arts festival whose name, “Pa Gya!” comes from the Twi word meaning “to lift” or “to strike flame”, is aimed at igniting passion for…
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Ana Paula Tavares is Prêmio Camões 2025 winner
Ana Paula Tavares was announced the winner of the Prêmio Camões 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal, on Thursday, October 8, 2025. The Camões Prize, named after Luís de Camões, the Portuguese language’s greatest poet, is the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language. It is awarded annually by the Portuguese Direção-Geral do Livro, dos…
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Prix Goncourt 2025 Deuxieme Selection Announced
Nathacha Appanah and Yanick Lahens are on the Prix Goncourt 2025 Deuxième Selection announced in Paris, France, on Wednesday, October 8, 2025. The Prix Goncourt is given by the French Académie Goncourt to the author of “the best and most imaginative prose work of the year”. While it only has a token prize of around…
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Oyin Olugbile wins NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025
Oyin Olugbile’s novel Sanya is the winner of the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025. The announcement was made in Lagos, Nigeria, on Saturday, October 10, 2025. The Nigeria Prize for Literature, worth US$100,000, has celebrated Nigerian authors in the four genres of fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature since 2004. Sponsored annually by oil…
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Stella Gaitano wins PEN English Pinter Prize for Writer of Courage 2025.
Leila Aboulela selected Stella Gaitano as the PEN English Pinter Prize for Writer of Courage 2025 in London, UK, on Saturday, October 10, 2025. The PEN Pinter Prize is awarded annually to a writer from Britain, the Republic of Ireland, or the Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize-winning speech, casts an…
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Hubaidat Oyinkansola Ishola Wins Quramo Writers’ Prize 2025
Hubaidat Oyinkansola Ishola was declared the Quramo Writers’ Prize 2025 winner at a ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria, on Saturday, October 4, 2025. The Quramo Writers’ Prize is awarded annually to an unpublished fiction manuscript by an unpublished author. Nigeria-based Quramo Publishers founded it to encourage and stimulate a new community of talented writers and to…
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Fred Khumalo’s “Dancing The Death Drill” stage adaptation
Fred Khumalo’s novel Dancing The Death Drill was adapted for stage and performed at the Joburg Theatre from September 9 – 28, 2025. In 1917, the British ship the SS Mendi launched from the British colony Cape Town, South Africa, with hundreds of natives of the Southern African country to take part in the European…
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Peter Kimani is Nanyuki Book Festival keynote speaker
Peter Kimani and Anne Miltenburg are the keynote speakers for the Nanyuki Book Festival, which will be held in the Kenyan town from October 10 – 11, 2025. The Nanyuki Book Festival is a new literary festival dedicated to bringing together authors, publishers, booksellers, educators, and readers from across Kenya and beyond, creating a vibrant…
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Zukiswa Wanner and Other Global Sumud Flotilla Activists Released
South African writer, publisher, and activist Zukiswa Wanner and other participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla arrived safely in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, after their release from Israeli custody. The Global Sumud Flotilla is an international, civil society–led maritime initiative aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The…
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South African Writers in Solidarity with Zukiswa Wanner
South African writers have put out a statement of solidarity on the kidnapping of South African writer Zukiswa Wanner off the coast of Gaza on the night of October 1, 2025. Statement of Solidarity As a collective of independent South African writers, we wish to express our support, solidarity and admiration for the courageous actions…
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Statement: My wife, writer Zukiswa Wanner has been kidnapped by Israel
My name is James Murua, and my wife, Zukiswa Wanner, was kidnapped by the Israeli regime on the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters off the coast of Gaza on the night of October 1, 2025. The Global Sumud Flotilla is an international, civil society-led maritime initiative aiming to break the Israeli blockade of the…
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Marlene L. Daut is Cundill History Prize 2025 finalist
Marlene L. Daut is one of the three Cundill History Prize 2025 finalists announced in Montreal, Canada, on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. The Cundill History Prize recognizes and rewards the best history writing in English, including translations. Founded by Peter Cundill and administered by McGill University in Montreal, Canada, it encourages informed public debate through…
