The African Book Festival’s “Voices from the Beginning” from Berlin-based InterKontinental, curated by Kalaf Epalanga, will be streaming live from Munich and Leipzig, Germany from January 28-29, 2021.
InterKontinental is known by those who follow African and Black literature for the African Book Festival which they hosted in their Berlin, Germany base in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, the festival to be curated by Kalaf Epalanga and headlined by José Eduardo Agualusa had to be put off because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
InterKontinental has announced that there will be several events encompassing the African Book Festival in January and April. The January event dubbed “Voices from the Beginning” is a literary & music performance curated by Kalaf Epalanga streamed live from Grassi Museum in Leipzig and Literaturhaus Munich. The session from Leipzig will focus on writers from the anglophone African and Afro-diasporic realms. The Munich event will introduce the audience to modern Angolan literature.
Hosted by Kalaf Epalanga, the two-day event will explore the various entanglements of music and literature by inviting some of the most exciting African literary voices to talk about their works and musical inspirations.
The featured writers will be Chimeka Garricks, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, José Eduardo Agualusa, Martha Fessehatzion, Moses Leo, Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda, Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, Ondjaki, Rémy Ngamije, Telma Tvon, Toty Sa’Med, Yara Monteiro, and Zukiswa Wanner. Actors Martha Fessehatzion and Moses Leo will perform staged readings from the authors’ books.
For information on the events streaming from the festival on January 28 and 29, please visit the official festival website.
Information about the April 2021 events will be shared when it becomes available.
