This 4th edition of NBO Litfest, co-presented by Book Bunk and Hay Festival Global, brings together writers, artists and thinkers to explore alternative knowledge systems. Scheduled for 26 - 29 June 2025 in Nairobi’s public libraries; McMillan Memorial Library, Kaloleni Library and Eastlands Library, the festival presents inspiring thoughts and perspectives from the worlds of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music, visual arts and governance. Book your tickets here.
This is a workshop offering digital teaching tools run by Ukombozi Library, a Kenyan archive of progressive media. The session will be based on Africa is a Country’s 'Revolutionary Papers', a year long series on the archival remnants of African and black diaspora anti-colonial movement materials to retrieve a politics and pedagogy that challenge the contemporary cooptation of radical histories.
For the little ones, we kick off with an immersion in stories! Featuring a selection of 200 beautiful brand-new books specially selected to help young learners and their teachers learn and discover the joy of reading. With guidance from master storyteller, Orpah Agunda, adventures come alive.
The Children's Corner is back! This time the space also features arts and crafts activities available across the day. Don’t miss out on this vibrant, engaging hub designed to inspire the little ones to explore the joy of reading. We have a variety of diverse activities on offer including storytelling sessions, iInteractive workshops, board games, book nooks and more. The Children's Corner is a place where every child can embark on a literary adventure, discover new worlds and let their creativity soar. Join us for a day full of fun, learning, and unforgettable memories!
A creative writing session with Ayanna Lloyd Banwo on how to infuse your writing with specificity drawn from lived experience interwoven with research and imagination. Ayanna Lloyd Banwois a writer from Trinidad and Tobago. Her debut novel When We Were Birds was the 2023 winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, and the American Book Award. It was also shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the McKitterick Prize and named one of the UK Observer’s Best Debuts and The Economist’s Best Books of 2022. Her short fiction and non-fiction have been published in Moko Magazine, Small Axe and PREE, among others and shortlisted for the Small Axe Literary Competition and the Wasafiri New Writing Prize. She is the 2023 winner of the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award and was named a 2024 Rising Star in UK writing by The National Centre for Writing and The British Council.
Learn where to look within to re-language personal experiences and harness joy, pain and despair at world events into poetry with Ngwatilo Mawiyoo.
Ngwatilo Mawiyoo is a Kenyan writer, filmmaker, and actor best known for her work as a poet. Her ongoing writing project,Witness & Dream explores the lived experience of diverse rural Kenyan communities. The project took her to live with several families, each over a period of 10 days. These travels were the subject of her thesis at the University of British Columbia’s Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program, and in large part her 2016 chapbook, Dagoretti Corner, edited by Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes. Her first collection, Blue Mothertongue, was published in 2010.
Ngwatilo’s poems have appeared in Wasafiri, Transition, Johannesburg Review of Books, Obsidian, Kwani? and elsewhere. She's been twice shortlisted for Brunel University’s African Poetry Prize, and twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is also a past Callaloo fellow and has been a Bundanon Trust Residency recipient through The Africa Centre.
Follow an exciting adventure in a land where magic is forbidden and Ebony, a young witch sets out to defeat the evil queen and free magic once more, but her path is filled with terrible dangers, new friends and new loves. Will Ebony succeed or fall to dragon fire?
Don’t miss this interactive reading session with Venna Odhiamboand Velia Vidal. These authors will share their original children and young adult works with our young audiences.
Step into a hands-on zine-making adventure where scissors are sacred, glue is bold, and the mess is half the magic. This isn’t just a workshop, it's a creative playground run by Ethiopian artist, Tizzita Teffera where you’ll cut, paste, layer, scribble, question, and collage your way into self-expression. Zines; punky, poetic, political are made for anyone with something to say. You’ll dive into a delicious mix of images, textures, words, and wildness, using everything from the mundane to the mystical to create something personal, radical, or just plain weird.
Whether you're into memory, myth, rebellion, or ritual, there's space for it here. Expect a little history on punk publishing & zines, a lot of experimentation, and a co-created space full of curiosity, wonder, and joyful chaos. You’ll leave with something that reflects you in fragments, folds, and gluey fingerprints.
No experience needed. Just bring an open heart, curious hands, and a willingness to play.
Tizzita Teffera is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist whose work explores ritual, mythology, memory, shame, and the shadow self. Weaving together Ethiopian and Kenyan cultural influences, she uses poetry, print, photography, and found materials including archival images to navigate themes of femininity, healing, and personal myth. Her work exists at the intersection of the seen and unseen, always in conversation with transformation.
The Craft of Photojournalism: A Journey from Sight to Insight
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Are you interested in photojournalism, whether as a passion or a career path? Don’t miss this interactive two-hour masterclass with Luis Tato, Chief Photographer and Photo Coordinator for East Africa and the Indian Ocean at Agence France-Presse.
He is also the winner of the 2021 and 2025 World Press Photo contest. Gain insights from his years of experience behind the lens and learn about the work that goes on in the photo department of one of the world’s largest international news agencies.
Luis Tato has a degree in audiovisual communication and began his career covering Spain’s Financial Crisis for print media, news agencies and several NGOs. He then became a regular contributor to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia covering daily news and sports. Later, he combined his work covering mainly East Africa as a stringer for Agence France-Presse and other international publications while developing his own photojournalism projects with a focus on sociology, identity and resilience. Tato has gained numerous honours including the Rémi Ochlik Award and Picture of the Year International awards among others.
Masterclass: On the Mic: Crafting Your Voice in Podcasting
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2024 Podcast of the Year winners, Chinny Ukata and Astrid Madimba of It’s a Continent podcast bring their expertise in broadcasting in a session focused on how to achieve longevity and stay fresh on the microphone.
Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata are hosts of It’s a Continent, a podcast celebrating Africa’s diverse past and present, and authors of the book of the same name, highlighting the consequences of colonialism and how this legacy reverberates today.
With the support of Open Society Foundations, South to North series
Africa Is a Country is celebrating the release of its first print edition, Revolution Deferred? 15 Years of Mass Protest in Africa at The Mist in Westlands (The Mall). The evening, presented in partnership with the Nairobi Litfest, will feature panel discussions with authors from Africa Is a Country, and will include their collaborative partner Revolutionary Papers, who will help contextualize the legacy of radical publishing they hope to build on. Join up for food, drinks, and exciting discussion. RSVP here.
