Macondo Literary Festival

Macondo Literary Festival Festival on African histories and futures with authors writing in French, Portuguese, English, Arabic

Yesterday at Maktaba Kuu, we convened the first African Children's Story Summit: STORYTIME, bringing together creators, ...
17/09/2026

Yesterday at Maktaba Kuu, we convened the first African Children's Story Summit: STORYTIME, bringing together creators, illustrators, publishers, educators, librarians, technologists, producers, cultural leaders and partners to ask a deceptively simple question:

What must we build today so African children inherit extraordinary worlds of imagination tomorrow?

From books and illustration to animation, gaming, audio and technology, today's conversations explored children's storytelling not simply as publishing, but as culture, infrastructure and possibility.

And we're only getting started.

Next stop: !

📅 18–20 September 2026
📍 Kenya Cultural Centre

Tickets available here: https://buff.ly/ahLcskK

Can’t join us in Nairobi? Join us online. 🌍📚Four conversations from will be livestreamed this weekend, bringing Ink, S...
16/09/2026

Can’t join us in Nairobi? Join us online. 🌍📚

Four conversations from will be livestreamed this weekend, bringing Ink, Sea & Silence to Macondo Citizens wherever you are.

📺 Livestream sessions:

Saturday, 19th September
Let’s Talk Africa! — https://buff.ly/QFp3ry4
The Right to Imagine Otherwise — https://buff.ly/AzSNR4C

Sunday, 20th September
What the Things Remember — https://buff.ly/6tF43Q9
Plotting the Future: Who Do We Choose to Be? — https://buff.ly/8wPcF8z

Tune in. Join the conversation.

How are you starting your Saturday at ?Esi EdugyanFrom "Washington Black" to "Half-Blood Blues", meet the acclaimed Can...
16/09/2026

How are you starting your Saturday at ?

Esi Edugyan
From "Washington Black" to "Half-Blood Blues", meet the acclaimed Canadian-Ghanaian author whose work journeys through history, identity and belonging.

OR...

Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin
Meet one of Sudan's most prominent writers, whose books were banned in his homeland and whose work confronts war, power and the silences around them.

📅 Saturday, 19 September
📍 Kenya Cultural Centre

The hardest part? Choosing a room.

🎟️ Get your festival tickets via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/ahLcskK

Macondo Citizens. How well do you actually know Africa? 👀You’ve been reading the books. You know the writers. But have y...
15/09/2026

Macondo Citizens. How well do you actually know Africa? 👀

You’ve been reading the books. You know the writers. But have you been paying attention to the continent around them?

At , is taking its weekly quiz off the page and into the festival. Expect questions spanning books, writers, music, politics, history, geography and all that wonderfully obscure knowledge you’ve been storing for precisely this moment. Come curious. Come competitive. Bring the friend who somehow knows everything.

🏆 There will be prizes for the frighteningly well-informed.
😌 Bragging rights for everyone else.
🤨 And probably at least one answer you’ll still be arguing about afterwards.

📅 Saturday, 19 September
⏰ 1:00–1:45 PM
📍 Kenya Cultural Centre

Think you know your continent? Come prove it.

🎟️ Get your festival tickets via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/ahLcskK

Kenya writes. And Kenya writes in Kiswahili. 🇰🇪📚This Sunday at , join Dominic Maina, Edwin Omindo and Nicholas Ogal for...
15/09/2026

Kenya writes. And Kenya writes in Kiswahili. 🇰🇪📚

This Sunday at , join Dominic Maina, Edwin Omindo and Nicholas Ogal for Kenya Writes: Swahili Edition for a conversation about writing, recognition and the landscape of Kiswahili literature today.

Hosted by Rayya Timammy.

🗓️ Sunday, 20 September
⏰ 10–11 AM
📍 Main Auditorium, Kenya Cultural Centre

Njooni tuzungumze kuhusu fasihi yetu.

🎟️ Get your festival tickets via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/IXEhtbN

The gates to Macondo open to everyone.Join us as we officially open the sixth edition of the Macondo Literary Festival a...
14/09/2026

The gates to Macondo open to everyone.

Join us as we officially open the sixth edition of the Macondo Literary Festival and begin three days of Ink, Sea & Silence.

Our Opening Ceremony is FREE and open to all.

No festival ticket needed for the ceremony, just come and help us welcome to life.

📅 Friday, 18 September
⏰ 4:30 PM
📍 Auditorium, Kenya Cultural Centre

And if you like what you find on the other side? Stay with us for a weekend of literature, poetry, film, art, music and conversations with writers from across Africa and beyond.
Come cross into Macondo with us.

🎟️ Festival tickets for the rest of the weekend are available via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/IXEhtbN

P.S: Expect heavier traffic on Friday due to the University of Nairobi graduation. Please plan to arrive early. Parking via the back entrance will not be available on Friday.

On Sunday morning at , we turn the spotlight to some of the highlights of Kenya's contemporary Kiswahili literary scene...
14/09/2026

On Sunday morning at , we turn the spotlight to some of the highlights of Kenya's contemporary Kiswahili literary scene.

Meet Dominic Maina, Edwin Omindo and Nicholas Ogal, winners and nominees of the Safal Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, as they reflect on their creative journeys, what they think about literary prizes as platforms for recognition, and what is missing in the infrastructure supporting Kiswahili literature.

Hosted by Rayya Timammy.

📚 KENYA WRITES — Swahili Edition
📅 Sunday, 20 September
⏰ 10–11 AM
📍 Main Auditorium, Kenya Cultural Centre

Njoo tuzungumze kuhusu fasihi yetu.

🎟️ Get your festival tickets via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/IXEhtbN

What stories can a single work of art hold?In 'A Wise One, A Warrior', Meena Kandasamy begins with a 17th-century ivory ...
13/09/2026

What stories can a single work of art hold?

In 'A Wise One, A Warrior', Meena Kandasamy begins with a 17th-century ivory sculpture from Tamil Nadu and unfolds a powerful meditation on caste, class, power, and love. Blending poetry, memoir, scholarship, and digital culture, she challenges whose stories are preserved, and who gets to love on their own terms.

Meet Meena Kandasamy at .

Festival tickets available here: https://buff.ly/IXEhtbN

Pull up a seat at the Macondo Baraza!This , the Baraza brings together an incredible lineup for conversations spanning ...
12/09/2026

Pull up a seat at the Macondo Baraza!

This , the Baraza brings together an incredible lineup for conversations spanning Swahili food and culinary culture, language and testimony, literary production, publishing and poetry.

Across the weekend, join Aisha Kibwana, Alawi Zein, Abdilatif Abdalla, Tapiwa Muchechemera, Edwin Omindo, Iribe Mwangi and more as we gather, listen and exchange ideas.

📚 We’re also delighted to welcome Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, one of the region’s leading publishers of Swahili literature, to the festival. Find them at their booth on the festival grounds, and catch their General Manager, Tapiwa Muchechemera in conversation with Edwin Omindo on the state and future of literary production.

And on Sunday, we celebrate legendary Kenyan poet Abdilatif Abdalla at 80. 💚

📅 19–20 September
📍 Kenya Cultural Centre

Come pull up a seat.

🎟️ Festival tickets via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/IXEhtbN

Parents, yes, you can bring the young ones to !Meet Young World: Ink, Sea & Silence, our festival space created especia...
11/09/2026

Parents, yes, you can bring the young ones to !

Meet Young World: Ink, Sea & Silence, our festival space created especially for children and families. Curated by Melissa Wakhu, young festival-goers can:

✒️ INK — Create & Imagine: Draw, write, illustrate and make their own stories.
🌊 SEA — Explore & Play: Map journeys, make paper boats and discover stories travelling across oceans.
🌿 SILENCE — Pause & Read: Find a quiet corner for books, audiobooks, nature and imagination.
📚 YOUNG WORLD — Library & Story Corner: Listen to stories, meet authors and discover the joy of bringing stories to life together.

There will also be special illustration and read-aloud sessions throughout the weekend. Children under six enter FREE. Students pay KES 200/day with student ID. Make Macondo a family day out.

🎟️ Festival tickets via KenyaBuzz: https://buff.ly/IXEhtbN

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