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The LitFest International Literature Festival is back! The festival will be celebrating its 10th anniversary with the main festival activities in Harare from November 29th to December 2nd, 2023, followed by outreach workshops and performances in Gweru on 4 December, and Bulawayo on 6 December.
In commemoration of 10 years of LitFest, all the activities will revolve around this year’s festival theme: “WORDS REMEMBER – A decade of the story”. The festival will feature panel discussion sessions, dialogues, and performances that include poetry, theatre, and music. As a way to help in the development of the arts and culture sector, the festival will also run a workshop for high school students and another one for creatives in Harare, as well as outreach activities in Gweru and Bulawayo. Headliners participating in the festival include poet Nomonde Sky from South Africa, poet Sidos from Botswana, and theatre group The Volksbühne Basel (VB) from Switzerland.
Chirikure Chirikure, the festival director said, “It is always wonderful to come together to uplift literature, arts and culture in Zimbabwe, Africa and the world beyond. LitFest was envisioned to be a platform that shines a spotlight on literary arts, as well as cultivating dialogue and ideas exchange with other practitioners from around the world. To be celebrating 10 years of this initiative is a remarkable achievement and we look forward to continuing this necessary work in the years to come.”
LitFest will be hosting more than sixty festival participants drawn from Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Botswana, Sweden, Switzerland, and Italy. The festival will kick off with remarks by the guest of honour, veteran writer and publisher, Barbara Nkala, followed by brief performances. Some of the festival highlights will include a keynote presentation by Zimbabwean writer, Takura Zhangazha, as well as a session commemorating the late Stephen Chifunyise’s storytelling. On the performances side, the line-up will include productions by Afrikera, a night of theatre, an acoustic night, and a poetry slam, in partnership with Savanna Arts Trust. The festival will close with a concert at Nhaka Gallery featuring Chengeto Maraire Brown and Diana “Mangwenya” Samkange.
Chirikure added, “The festival activities will run at several venues in Harare. The official opening, acoustic night, and final day activities will be at Nhaka Gallery, the former Delta Gallery, while the schools’ workshop will be at the Harare City Library, with the Creatives workshop and theatre events held at Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre.”
The workshops for the outreach programme in Gweru and Bulawayo will have most of the international visitors and some local artists functioning as resource persons. The visitors will also share their works by way of reading and performing.
Entrance to all the discussion sessions and workshops will be free, and those interested in participating are encouraged to register in advance to avoid disappointment because of the limited capacities. However, the evening shows will be ticketed, with nominal charges.
The full festival programme and posters are available on the LitFest Harare social media pages.
For more information contact: +263-787232831/+263-772335040