Poetry has always had the power to turn a thought into a movement, a memory into a story and a voice into something impossible to ignore.
Now, as Poetry Africa prepares to celebrate its 30th edition, one of South Africa’s distinctive creative voices will take centre stage.
Koleka Putuma has been named Poetry Africa’s 2026 Featured Poet, ahead of this year’s festival, which will take place at the Durban Playhouse Theatre from 5 to 10 October 2026.
Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the 30th edition will carry the theme Every Word a Street, Every Voice a City.
It is a fitting theme for a festival built around the power of words, voices and ideas.
Koleka Putuma takes the spotlight
Putuma is a Cape Town-based cultural worker whose creative practice spans performance, publication and installation.
Her work explores voice and the body as channels for image, language and dream. It also engages with citation, religion, and cultural and historical identity.
Each year, Poetry Africa honours a leading South African poet whose work reflects the values of the country’s Constitutional Democracy and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Putuma’s appointment as the 2026 Featured Poet places her work within that long-standing tradition.
She has published three poetry collections, a children’s book and several plays.
Her debut children’s book, Everybody Has a Fear, was published by Bonnier Books UK in September 2025 and has since been translated into Korean, Spanish and German.
In 2024, Hot Key Books in the UK published her latest poetry collection for teens and young adults, We Have Everything We Need To Start Again.
Beyond her own creative work, Putuma is also the Founder and Director of Manyano Media, a multidisciplinary creative company that produces and uplifts stories by Black queer and non-binary artists.
For Poetry Africa, her work represents the kind of truth-telling that sits at the heart of the festival.
“Koleka Putuma’s work is rooted in truth-telling as an act of freedom, and that has always been at the heart of what Poetry Africa stands for,” says Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts.
Durban prepares for a global poetry showdown
While Putuma will be one of the festival’s major highlights, Poetry Africa 2026 is set to be a truly international celebration.
The festival will host the 5th World Slam Poetry Championships, bringing 40 slam poets from 40 nations to Durban.
Over the course of the week, audiences will encounter poetry exploring protest, identity, memory, joy and the realities of contemporary life.
The international line-up will bring together voices and perspectives from Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.
Festival curator Siphindile Hlongwa believes the gathering demonstrates the extraordinary ability of poetry to connect people across borders.
“Bringing slam poets from 40 nations to one stage in Durban is a reminder that poetry is one of the few languages the whole world already speaks,” says Hlongwa.
Three slams. One festival. Countless voices.
The 2026 festival will feature three slam formats.
The Poetry Africa National Slam Jam will form part of the programme, alongside the World Poetry Slam Championship and the Chalkboard Slam for high school learners.
The World Poetry Slam Championship will begin building anticipation ahead of the festival when Poetry Africa hosts a celebratory draw on 8 September.
The draw will determine which countries go head to head in the competition’s four quarter-finals.
For those who cannot attend in person, the draw will be live-streamed on the Poetry Africa festival Facebook page.
A festival built beyond the stage
Poetry Africa has been running since 1997, creating a space where published and spoken-word poets from South Africa and around the world can meet audiences in Durban.
Its programme extends beyond performances.
Over the years, the festival has included panel discussions, campus and school visits, poetry exchanges, book launches, open mic sessions and slam competitions.
It has also created a platform for poets and audiences to reflect on poetry’s role in society and social change, while supporting academic scholarship in contemporary poetry at UKZN.
The 30th edition therefore arrives with both history and momentum behind it.
The full programme and participating poets will be announced in the coming weeks. The recipient of the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award will also be revealed.
For now, the spotlight belongs to Putuma and to a festival preparing to bring voices from around the world to Durban.
Save the date
Poetry Africa 2026 takes place from 5 to 10 October 2026 at the Durban Playhouse Theatre.
Tickets will be available through Webtickets from 7 September 2026.
As Poetry Africa enters its 30th edition, Durban is preparing for six days where words will become performance, stories will cross borders and voices will fill the city.
Because sometimes a poem is more than something you read.
Sometimes, it is a voice demanding to be heard.
