29th Edition of Poetry Africa: Building a Better World with Words

One of the continent’s most influential literary gatherings, the 29th edition of Poetry Africa, unfolded in Durban from 6-11 October 2025 at Seabrooke’s Theatre.

Presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the festival once again celebrated poetry’s power to inspire, challenge, and unite.

This year’s theme, ‘Poetry: Architecture of Social Justice’, invited poets, thinkers, and audiences to reflect on how poetic expression can be a framework for building movements of equity, inclusion, and transformation. The festival highlighted arts and culture as cornerstones of meaningful living, showing how poetry bridges divides, amplifies marginalised voices, and challenges systemic injustices.

At the heart of this year’s programme was celebrated poet, sociologist, dramatist, writer, ensemble leader, and civic activist Ari Sitas. Throughout his career, Sitas has demonstrated how poetry critiques the present, confronts the past, and imagines a more just future.

His writings, including The Flight of the Gwala-Gwala Bird and The Mandela Decade 1990 – 2000, interrogated working-class culture and post-apartheid South Africa’s transition. Using words as scaffolding for the present and a launch pad for the future, Sitas reminded audiences of language’s power to steady and reshape society.

Sitas was recognised with numerous honours, including the Order of Mapungubwe in Silver for his contributions to the social sciences and the arts. Though retired from the University of Cape Town and his Gutenberg Chair at the University of Strasbourg, he remains active as an Extraordinary Honorary Professor at the Africa Open Institute. His most recent work, Passageworks – developed in collaboration with Professor Lou-Marie Kruger and Helene van Aswegen – was launched in conversation with William Kentridge and Sarah Mosoetsa, delving into themes of lamentation and sound.

The 2025 edition welcomed seventy poets from across the globe, including South Africa, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Palestine, Somalia, Uganda, Reunion Island, the UK, the US, Jamaica, India, Côte d’Ivoire, Ukraine, and Brussels. Embracing its hybrid model, Poetry Africa hosted both in-person and online events, ensuring access for a worldwide audience.

The Centre for Creative Arts acknowledged the support of key partners, including the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, University of Johannesburg Arts and Culture Centre, and the French Institute of South Africa, whose collaboration made an event of this scale possible.

The full programme and ticket sales went live on Monday, 25 August 2025, through poetryafrica.ukzn.ac.za, with audiences encouraged to follow @PoetryAfrica on Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the festival.

Words: NdabaOnline

Image: Supplied