An international celebration of words, identity, and resistance arrives this October
This October, Durban won’t just be blooming with spring; it will be blooming with words. The Poetry Africa Festival 2025 is back, and this time, it’s not just a celebration of rhyme and rhythm. It’s a call to conscience. With the theme “Poetry: An Architecture of Social Justice,” the festival promises to turn verses into blueprints for equity, transformation, and inclusion.
Taking place from 6 to 11 October, the event will unfold in person at Seabrooke’s Theatre in Durban and online for global audiences, hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The organisers aren’t mincing words; this year’s focus is direct, urgent, and powerfully political.
A stage for the world, rooted in Africa
Opening night will set the tone with a keynote address by Ari Sitas, a sociologist and activist whose poetry slices through the haze of inequality with clarity and force. His iconic line, “you can see the class struggle forever,” will no doubt resonate as South Africans continue to wrestle with generational poverty, systemic injustice, and fragile hopes for renewal.
Before the lights dim for the evening, students across Durban’s campuses will already have had a taste of the action, thanks to a series of outreach sessions aimed at young writers and thinkers. These sessions underscore the festival’s deep belief that the next revolution will be written, and it will be written by the youth.
When words build bridges
Festival curator Siphindile Hlongwa put it simply: “Poetry builds bridges.” At a time when headlines are crowded with conflict and borders seem more like barriers, the festival is positioning poetry as a global connector. And it shows in the line-up.
The opening night’s international panel will bring together fierce, thoughtful voices from Kenya, Réunion Island, Ukraine, Belgium, Jamaica, Ghana, and beyond:
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Dominion (Kenya) uses spoken word to honour his heritage and confront modern-day injustice.
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Sébastien Refesse (Réunion) merges maloya music with protest, turning performance into political resistance.
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Olena Huseynova (Ukraine) writes with a wartime backdrop, documenting the quiet resilience of women in conflict zones.
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Kwame Dawes, Vanessa Daniels, and others will explore how language and justice intertwine across continents.
Guiding one of the festival’s most anticipated conversations will be South Africa’s Quaz Roodt, joining forces with Dr Nick Makoha (Uganda/UK) and Prof Kwame Dawes. Together, they will examine the roots of identity and the role of poetry in building new narratives.
More than performance, it’s participation
Throughout the week, the festival will host:
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Workshops, exploring copyright, digital authorship, and writing in the age of AI
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Panel discussions, reflecting on African literary magazines and publishing spaces
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Readings and slam sessions, including the adrenaline-filled Chalkboard Slam Competition
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A special tribute to New Coin, South Africa’s long-running poetry journal, celebrating its 61st year
The programme is designed not just to showcase talent but to ignite dialogue, creativity, and transformation.
Why this matters right now
South Africa, like much of the world, is in a moment of reckoning. As inequality deepens and polarisation grows, art, especially poetry, offers a way to navigate, question, and reimagine. Poetry Africa isn’t shying away from that responsibility.
Festival director Ismail Mahomed said it best: this year’s festival is about using poetic expression as a structural framework to sustain movements for justice. It’s about seeing language not as a luxury, but as a tool for building the future.
Source: IOL
Featured Image: Magic 828
