In the 21st Century African writing exists as a powerful creative force on the stage of world literature. This symposium invites writers and academics to consider the unique contribution African writing can make to reformulating the destructive narratives of the past and the present. Rather than thinking of Africa as ‘following after’ the developed world, we propose writing from Africa as the site for thinking of alternative paths to the future.
The 204th Nobel Symposium on Retrieving Pasts, Imagining Futures: Creative Forms in African Writing from 03 – 07 November 2025 will be the fifth symposium in the Nobel in Africa series at STIAS. The invitation-only symposium will gather around 40 of the world’s leading scholars and writers, in the field of African writing, with lectures, discussions and an outreach programme. Please visit www.stias.ac.za/nobel-in-africa/ for further information; a more detailed programme will be announced at a later date.
Convenors: Abdulrazak Gurnah (University of Kent), Maria Olaussen (University of Gothenburg), Louise Green (Stellenbosch University) and Tina Steiner (Stellenbosch University)