Programme

Haidar Eid speaks to Usuf Chikte about his new book, a collection of essays and articles he wrote and published during the Israeli onslaught on Gaza and the “hermetic blockade” that has been in place since 2007.

Join Libee the Librarian for an exciting storytime and activity session.

Foluso Agbaje, Zara Julius and Patric Tariq Mellet speak to Aphiwe Ngalo about the uneasy present resting on layers of the past in our cities.

Caryn Dolley, Rebecca Gore and Julian Jansen reflect on how their recent books expose our collapsed criminal justice system.

Chaired by Dan Corder.

Xolisa Guzula, Nathi Ngubane and Sibabalwe Nobandla and speak to Faye Kabali-Kagwa about the importance of translating complex contexts into accessible knowledge.

Nadia Cassim, Bonnie Espie and Andrew Robert Wilson speak to Palesa Motsumi about how the truth refuses to remain hidden

Don’t miss this opportunity to speak to David in this intimate setting.

Antjie Krog, Lebo Mazibuko and Malika Ndlovu speak to Buhle Ngaba about independent daughters making sense of this complex relationship.

Siphokazi Jonas, Athambile Masola and Ryan Pedro speak to Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal about finding language to hold one’s past.

This event is brought to you by the Centre for Rhetoric Studies.

Veruska De Vita, Saliem Fakir, and Alistair Mackay speak to Natalie Sifuma about the impact of the climate catastrophe and their work.

Bonnie Espie, Paige Nick and Ntombi Nkabinde speak to Riley Herbert-Henry about the surprises found family can bring.

Adekeye Adebajo and Bibi Bakare-Yusuf speak to Maneo Mohale about rethinking our frameworks and identities to understand what it means to be Black and African.

Mpho Boshego, David Cornwell and Andrew Robert Wilson speak to Kelly Smith about weaving intimacy into their work.

Renowned theoretical physicist, Adriana Marais, speaks to Jacinta Delhaize and Daniel Cunnama from The Cosmic Savannah podcast about the scientific and technical possibilities of extraplanetary settlement, and where our ethical responsibilities lie.

Azille Coetzee, Alistair Mackay and Kopano Maroga speak to Céline Tshika about sex and desire outside of heteronormative expectations.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a live illustration session with Nathi Ngubane, the creator of From the River to the Sea and Malcolm X in Gaza.

Write a letter to the future while grounding your imaginings in action for the present! Join Climate Lounge for a workshop that guides you through a process of crafting a letter to a loved one in the future using the DearTomorrow methodology. The process will give you the opportunity to connect with yourself and a radical hope for the future. You will have the option for your letter to be featured as part of a global storytelling project both in the installation at the festival, and as part of DearTomorrow’s online archive of letters to the future from around the world.

Andile Cele, Ashraf Kagee and Michelle Myeko Kekana speak to Amogelang Moledu about the power of words to mend real world trauma.

Popina Khumanda, Malika Ndlovu and Jeffrey Rakabe speak to Firdose Moonda about the scars of trauma and the personal revolution to get to the other side.

Don’t miss this screening of the video podcast. This is followed by a conversation between Wale Lawal, editor at The Republic (behind the magazine is the belief that writing can connect, empower and humanise communities), and Will Shoki, the editor of Africa is a Country (pushing back on continental legacies of colonialism and exploitation).

Festival Director Mervyn Sloman talks to Mohale Mashigo, Lesedi Molefi and Mbali Sikakana about the ways in which Black writers are expected to perform once they have published, how many of these performances involve negotiating white spaces, what needs to change and why we have been having the same conversation for years.

This session will run for 90 minutes and we encourage participation from the audience, and from other writers and readers of colour who are willing to share their experiences.

Pumla Dineo Gqola, Goretti Kyomuhendo and Zulaikha Patel speak to Mohale Mashigo about emotional exhaustion and crisis fatigue.

Janine Adams, Gabe Gabriel and Manila von Teez speak to Roché Kester about queer gatherings as resistance, touching on the Cape Town Ball Scene, Pink Party and the politics of joy.

Alexandra Dodd, Bongani Kona and Antjie Krog discuss memoir and personal nonfiction as ways of grappling with memory, complicity, silence, and shame—both in private lives and in the shared fictions that shape them. This conversation, hosted by Hedley Twidle, explores the risks and rewards of writing into uncertainty.

Sven Axelrad, Nthato Mokgata and Rémy Ngamije speak to Koketso Sachane about creative work as an act of resilience. Reimagining masculinity through music and conversation.

Join English Alive, the South African Council for English Education’s annual anthology, to celebrate the work they have done in the past 70 years, as well as to pay homage to Robin Malan, a man whose loss is felt deeply. Following a performance by our guest poet, Siphokazi Jonas, the editor of the anthology and MC of the event, Kirsten Deane, invites students to perform their poems. Don’t miss this opportunity to support the next generation.

Rebecca Gore, Adekeye Adebajo and Edgar Pieterse speak to Alexandra Dodd about colonial structures—legal, spatial, cultural—that we are born into and that we either uphold, resist, or remake. These authors explore how systems define the parameters of justice, survival, and hope—and what it might take to transform them.

Ryan Pedro, Werner Pretorius and Jeffrey Rakabe speak to Lester Kiewit about the costs of becoming a man.

Nadia Cassim, Ntombifuthi Nkabinde and Zibu Sithole speak to Bianca Flanders about the struggle to say ‘I Do’ to the institution of marriage.

Antjie Krog, Frankie Murrey and Sarah Uheida speak to Bongani Kona about writing one’s way to belonging.

Don’t miss this exciting storytime and activity session with Zulaikha Patel!

Don’t miss this opportunity to speak to Nadia in this intimate setting.

Zara Julius, Vusumzi Ngxande and Jeffrey Rakabe speak to Wanelisa Xaba about turning away from modernity and exploring the multilayeredness of African cosmologies.

Kelly-Eve Koopman, Kopano Maroga and Maneo Mohale speak to Lwando Scott about building alternate presents and futures.

Sven Axelrad, Khaya Dlanga and Karen Vermeulen speak to Dela Gwala about the necessity of humour to process pain.

Popina Khumanda, author of The Smallest Ones, speaks to Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela about surviving the unthinkable, finding ways forward, and paths to healing.

This conversation may include content about sexual violence and trauma.

Join us for a heart-warming celebration of creativity and imagination at the Junior Writing Competition Prize Giving, hosted by the City of Cape Town Library & Information Services, and presented by Tracey Muir-Rix.

This special event honours the winners of the 2025 Junior Writing Competition—our very own home-grown authors.

Join Shakeelah Ismail, Charisse Louw, Mbali Mazibuko and Simphiwe Rens in conversation with Joy Watson, at the launch of a collection that highlights a feminist understanding of space.

Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, James Murua and Rémy Ngamije speak to Mervyn Sloman about their efforts to spotlight African writing.

This event is brought to you by the African Literary Cities Project.

Foluso Agbaje, Lesedi Molefi and Nathi Ngubane speak to Pumla Dineo Gqola about subverting power and fighting back.

A moment to reflect on the impact of Queer, Trans and Worker activism on RMF and FMF.

Mam’ Nozi, Kealeboga Mase Ramaru, Carbon and Patricia Bevie talk to Noluthando Mqadi about the pursuit of repair, reckoning and restorative politics in the aftermath of a movement that ‘shut down the rainbow nation’.

Jon Keevy, Adriana Marais and speak to Wamuwi Mbao about the intersections of art and science.

Don’t miss this great lineup of poets published by Nick Mulgrew, founder of uHlanga Press.

Conversation and readings with Athambile Masola, Maneo Mohale, Manthipe Moila and Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal.

Tom Eaton, Paige Nick and Zibu Sithole speak to Qarnita Loxton about balancing lighthearted writing with themes that resonate.

In a session about mental health and capital, Lesedi Molefi asks: in a world that rewards performance and punishes intrinsic truths, what does it mean to stop pretending? What does it mean to stop coping performatively and finally say the quiet part out loud—not for applause, not for branding, but because it’s just…true?

This session dives into the link between capitalism and mental health, asking what happens to our bodies, minds, and communities when the world gaslights us into distrusting our own senses.

Together with artists and thinkers Mpho Boshego, Andile Cele and Nthato Mokgata, the conversation explores resistance, self-trust as artistic discipline, and vulnerability as something far less cute—and far more urgent—than we’ve been sold.

Following 45 minutes of dialogue, the floor opens. No Q&A. Just a room full of people making noise together. Refusing to stay silent. Naming what’s true – especially if it’s something the world considers mad.

Rebecca Gore, Lebo Mazibuko and Karen Vermeulen speak to Joy Watson about unwanted pregnancies, shame, access to care, and reproductive rights.

Manthipe Moila, Kopano Maroga, and Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal speak to each other through their poetry.

Please note the readings will be followed by a short Q&A session.

David Cornwell, Caryn Dolley and Nthato Mokgata speak to Edgar Pieterse about the structured violence and alienation of the urban, both past and present.

This event is brought to you by African Literary Cities Project.

Better Late is where the country’s most brilliant, bewildering, and occasionally unhinged creatives band together on the set of a Late Night TV show to get to the bottom of whatever the hell is going on at the Open Book Festival.

Hosted by award-winning comedians Yaseen Barnes and Callum Hitchcock, this late-night-style spectacle brings together a rogue’s gallery of playwrights, poets, comedians, multi-hyphenates, clowns and theatremakers for a show that defies explanation — but somehow makes perfect sense.

Joining them for conversations that matter are two very special guests, who you may recognise if you have been anywhere with internet access in the last few years — Settle down, brother! It’s not Grok — it’s Dan Corder and Céline Tshika.

Expect interviews that veer wildly off course, live sketches that start absurd before getting stranger, and musical performances that may or may not end in spontaneous combustion.

Late Night talk show meets festival fever dream.

Slam City Showcase: From Slam to Fam: Cape Town’s premier poetry slam proudly presents the Slam City Showcase—a celebration of new talent, lyrical grit, and poetic brilliance in different African languages. Each month, the city’s boldest voices battle it out for the grand prize and the coveted title of Slam City Champion. From every slam, a Top 5 emerges—poets whose performances moved both judges and audiences alike. This showcase brings together those powerful voices: the ones who’ve been slamming for their lives, month after month.
The Slam City Showcase is a testament to how the intensity of slam poetry cultivates discipline, dedication, and camaraderie. Join us as we shine a spotlight on Cape Town’s community of poets—living, writing, and igniting the mic.
Including: Mfundi the Poet, Gali Gali, Riyo, Rea Mmethi, Mtunzikazi Ngozana, Ntsako Layn, Vusumzi Mpofu and Inzima
Musicians: Chosi and Mishy Kope
Hosted by Thapelo Tharaga and Zizipho Bam.

Nkgopoleng Moloi, Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal and Lwando Scott speak to Rebecca Davis about the safety of queer people on our continent and in our cities.

Siphokazi Jonas and Vusumzi Ngxande speak to Vuyo Koyana about reclaiming a spiritual inheritance and returning to the heart/core of Isintu.

Foluso Agbaje, Pumla Dineo Gqola, Goretti Kyomuhendo and Athambile Masola speak to Mbali Sikakane about writing feminist histories, and filling in the gaps in the official archives.

Don’t miss this opportunity to speak to Mpho in this intimate setting.

Foluso Agbaje, Rémy Ngamije and Sarah Uheida speak to Erin Bates about journeying with grief.

Sven Axelrad, Lebo Mazibuko and Ntombifuthi Nkabinde speak to Lufefe Boss about working through the trauma left by problematic parents.

Maneo Mohale speaks to literary icon, Tsitsi Dangarembga, about bearing witness to complex states of Black girlhood in her powerful world-bending Tambudzai and Nyasha trilogy (Nervous Conditions, The Book of Not, This Mournable Body).

Join the discussion as Noma Tsheleza facilitates an interactive conversation with the author of The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women.

The One-Stop Words Shop invites you to a quiz about all things bookish: characters, first and last lines, crossovers in culture, and more. Assemble your team of up to six, show off your skills, and secure bragging rights and prizes for an afternoon of fun and competitive quizzing. Your Quiz host is Nick Corbett.

Prizes include a R500 voucher from the Book Lounge.

Each person needs to book a ticket, and there are six teams of six.

Andile Cele, Khaya Dlanga and Nthato Mokgata speak to Ondela Mlandu about code switching and translating yourself to belong.

Wale Lawal, Athambile Masola and Moray Rhoda speak to Sue Nyamnjoh about meaning making in the age of AI.

Veruska De Vita, Traci Kwaai and Malika Ndlovu speak to Zolani Mahola about the work of reclaiming ancestral and intimate connections to our rivers and oceans.

Join the unmissable Siphokazi Jonas for an immersive storytelling performance that is more than a celebration – it is an intentional space for community and reflection. Siphokazi is joined on stage by Elvis Sibeko (composition and soundscapes) and Inganam Batala (Instrumentalist).

Who will be this year’s champion? Wrap up your Festival in the company of Alistair Mackay, Lesedi Molefi, Rémy Ngamije, Paige Nick, Sue Nyamnjoh and Zibu Sithole.

Festival Director, Mervyn Sloman, returns as MC – Master of Cheating.