From Jozi and Gaborone to Cairo: Straight Talk From African Writers on Leadership and Unity

• From Jozi, Gaborone to Cairo: straight talk from African Writers on leadership and unity
• African Women Writers Network Turns 12!

The 12th African Women Writers’ Symposium (AWWS) takes place on Saturday, 17th and Sunday, 18th October 2026 at the Soweto Theatre. This two-day programme, which we trust will inspire hope in these tumultuous days in the world, includes workshops, talks, debates, and discussions on literature in our troubled world.

The Symposium kicks off on Saturday, 17th October at the Soweto Theatre with the Nadine Gordimer In Memoriam Lecture presented by renowned author and academic Sisonke Msimang. The theme of her address is “What Does It Mean to Love South Africa?”

There will be a Q&A after the talk.
The event will be in-person as well as online.

Msimang is the author of Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home (Text, 2018). She is a South African writer living in Perth, Australia, whose work focuses on gender, race, social justice, and democracy. Sisonke has been published in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek, and Al Jazeera.

The Long March of the Pen
The inspiration for the African Women Writers Network has many mothers, not excluding Jayne Cortez, Lisa Combrink (former COSAW, now DSAC), as well as the current organiser, Roshnie Moonsammy.

The idea of the Writers Network, however, started whilst the doyens of African literature Nadine Gordimer and Nawal El Saadawi were alive – fourteen years ago.

This literature festival was indeed the germination of ideas that directly led to the formation of this fledgling movement that is in its pre-teenage epoch. From early days, the gathering promised to unite in ideas and write about the continent by raising the voices of African women in the literary world. The prevailing consensus was that no effort must be spared in promoting a “culture of reading and writing in our country and throughout the Continent,” as the Minister of Culture then, Mashatile, said.

The Department of Arts and Culture has been a supporter of the programme and its activities since inception.

The first symposium, touched on above, invited guests to celebrate Nadine Gordimer’s 88th Birthday, who at that time had released 15 novels. She was also a Nobel Laureate for Literature.

Nadine Gordimer died on 13 July 2014 and by then had published more than 30 books over her lifetime, excluding other articles and interviews.

Nawal El Saadawi, feminist and scholar, writer of more than 50 books, short stories, and plays, was her guest, and in their vibrant exchange on stage, there was a moment that continues to inspire: Nawal asked, “How can South African people become as politically liberated as they are economically liberated?” Gordimer responded succinctly: “We are yet to defeat the apartheid within ourselves. “Nawal, we must add, was ostracised and jailed by the state for her views – for three months in 1981 – a time not wasted; the resilient feminist used the time to write Memoirs from the Women’s Prison on a roll of toilet paper, with an eyebrow pencil smuggled in by a fellow prisoner.

In 1993, she fled to the US after death threats were issued against her by reactionary forces. Nawal El Saadawi passed away on March 21, 2021, but her legacy endures. The two matriarchs of literature are not with us, but their books and ideas live on: as do the challenges. We continue to have challenges of literacy where misinformation and disinformation are rampant and in the service of the powerful through a massified system of media.

This year’s guest speaker, Sisonke, will attempt to help us to think hard about what love means for South Africans in these troubled times.

The In Memoriam Lecture will be preceded by master class literary workshops, including a workshop on the great poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron, who has had a prolific influence on many poets and hip hop artists. This workshop will feature renowned wordsmith Lesego Rampolokeng, hip hop poet Lex LaFoy, and Quaz Roodt.

There will also be panel discussions, including a session on Bessie Head and a tribute to the Botswana academic Dr Leloba Molema, who has recently passed on. Poetry performances and music will also be part of the weekend on both days.

The Sunday programme on the 18th will feature a series of literary and political panel discussions, including issues around debut publishing, how to get published, and how to avoid being scammed. Sunday, 18th will feature a talk by renowned economist, financial journalist, and analyst Duma Gqubule: Media Wars: Is Fiction Stranger Than Truth? The Contesting Narratives in Search of Justice. There will be respondents including Sharon Ekambaram (KAAX).

Note for Editors:
Previous keynote addresses for the Nadine Gordimer In Memoriam Lecture have been delivered by writers from the continent and its diaspora, such as Patricia Smith (USA), Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe), Leila Aboulela (Sudan), Gillian Slovo (SA), and Lorna Goodison (Jamaica), amongst others.

Livestreaming of the Nadine Gordimer In Memoriam Lecture delivered by Sisonke Msimang will be on the following platforms:
Websites:
Afroarts.co.za
Facebook:
Soweto Theatre
African Women Writers Network

All programme events are free and open to the public, but RSVP is essential for audience members wishing to attend in person. RSVPs via https://bit.ly/10AWWS_RSVP or by email to afroartsurban@gmail.com.

For media interviews or any additional info, please contact media@jtcomms.co.za or call 011 788 7632 or 083 954 6133.

The detailed Programme is available on request.

Issued by JT Communication Solutions on behalf of African Women Writers’ Symposium and Afro Arts SA

12th African Women Writers’ Symposium
Supported by the Dept of Sport, Arts and Culture : DSAC In Partnership with Soweto Theatre.

Venue: Soweto Theatre, 17 – 18 October 2026
Time:10 am to 5.30pm
Entrance: Free

Seating is limited so please RSVP : Email: afroartsurban@gmail.com

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Author: Dee’s Harilal from JT Communication Solutions on behalf of Afro Arts SA.

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