Here we come and ready to tell African stories unapologetically, say Afrotellers
This is as the delegates arrived in Johannesburg last night for the three day conference of storytelling running from October 23-25 at Market Square in Newtown, City Lodge Newtown and Wits University.
Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
Afrotellers, a movement of story tellers from the African continent are here and ready to tell African stories.
The delegates to this annual conference of storytellers descended on Johannesburg last night. They are unapologetic about their mission to reframe and reclaim African stories in a manner and fashion that best represent the ethos of telling African stories. The stories will be told in the next three days starting today, October 23, 2025, using a multi-disciplinary approach such as theatre, visual art, fashion, presenting research papers and other mediums.
At the reception party held at City Lodge Newtown last night, one of the three hosting venues who are partners of Afrottellers, in addition to the Market Theatre Foundation’s Market Photo Workshop business unit and Wits University, an exhibition of mainly photography was unveiled giving the delegates a taste of what will transpire from October 23-25 at the three partnering venues.
“I am excited to take part in the Afrotellers Conference and I look forward to networking with other creators at the conference and hopefully one of my wishes and that is to take my exhibition to Kenya will become a reality, said Cala, Eastern Cape, based photographer Khaya Malinga, whose photographs were part of the exhibition that opened last night at City Lodge, Newtown.
The reception was addressed by Market Theatre Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, Lekgetho Makola who reinforced Afrotellers’s co belief that the best people well positioned to tell African stories are Africans themselves both on the continent and in the diaspora, and that these stories must be told without the need to apologise to anyone.
“In a way reclaiming our right to tell our stories, we are restoring and reclaiming our dignity as Africans,” Makola said.
The inaugural conference took place last year at the University of the Witwatersrand at which over 100 story tellers from the African continent and its diaspora, gathered, told stories and exchanged notes relating to how best to reframe and reclaim the right to tell African stories.
This year more than 150 delegates are expected to gather and tell African stories encompassing several disciplines, such as poetry, theatre, presenting scholarly papers, exhibitions, fashion and other mediums.
In essence Afrotellers is a collective of African storytellers. It is a, annual platform that unites storytellers, activists, academics, artists, and visionaries to reclaim narrative power and shape the Afrika we want. Born in 2024 as a bold act of imagination, Afrotellers has since grown from a conference into a continental movement, rooted in communities and powered by storytelling as a strategy for justice, dignity, and transformation,” the orgnisation states.
Afrotellers Conference details
.Thursday: The Main Conference Begins
.Here’s what you need to know for Thursday, 23 October:
.Opening Session Venue: Wits University Film & Television Cinema, Solomon Mahlangu Building
Time: Starts promptly at 9:00 AM
Registration: Opens at 8:00 AM
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