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Open Book Festival

OBF2025: Conversations with Mohale | Are We Tired Yet?

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.
In this event, Pumla Dineo Gqola, Goretti Kyomuhendo and Zulaikha Patel speak to Mohale Mashigo about emotional exhaustion and crisis fatigue.
The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust.

OBF2025: Director’s Choice | Literary Spaces and Belonging

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.

In this event, 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.

The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust

OBF2025: Traumatised Cities

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.

In this event, 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 the African Literary Cities Project.

The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust

OBF2025: Created in Africa

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.

In this event, 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.

The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust

OBF2025: The Body Keeps the Score

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.

In this event, 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.

The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust.

OBF2025: The Republic

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.

In this event, Wale Lawal, editor at The Republic is in conversation with Will Shoki, the editor of Africa is a Country. The conversation is preceded by a preview of a video podcast.

The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust

OBF2025: Queering Intimacy

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.

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

The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust.

OBF2025: Out of this World and into the Next

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.
In this event, 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.
The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust

OBF2025: From Panafricanism to the Black Atlantic

This is a recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival.
In this event, 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.
The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust

OBF2025: Fluency and Trauma

This is a live recording of a live event that took place at the September 2025 edition of the Open Book Festival. In this event, 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.


The festival was made possible by the support of the City of Cape Town, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wheatfield Estate Foundation Trust.