African story tellers gather this week in Johannesburg to reframe, reclaim and tell African stories

About 150 delegates that include researchers, story tellers and cultural activists are expected to attend the Afrotellers Conference, October 23-25 at Market Square, City Lodge Newtown and Wits.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

For the longest of time in history African stories have been framed, told and shaped by outsiders besides Africans themselves, and that often has seen a lot of complaints by especially later generations of Africans, mostly African scholars and cultural activists who pointed out at a number of misrepresentations in some of those stories told about us by others. Actually who is well placed to tell the African story? Is it the natives or it can be anybody who is well researched to tell the story of a complex continent which is not easy to define in simple words or ideas?

However during this period of Afroconsciousness on the rise, especially with the concept of decoloniality dominating scholarly discourse, movements on the African continent are starting to revisit the way African stories have been told, how they have been told and by whom to whom. They are reclaiming the right to tell African stories in a manner they feel represents who they are.

One such movement which has emerged to be at the centre of African story telling by Africans and to themselves is Afrotellers, whose 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.

Afrotellers conference is back this year, taking place at multiple venues-University of Witwatersrand, Market Photo Workshop at Market Square, Newtown, and at City Lodge, also in Newtown, from October 23 to October 25, 2025. 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 of story-telling.

However to describe this gathering as simply a conference would not be an apt representation of what Afrotellers has since become since that inaugural conference took place at Wits in 2024.

“Since that first conference Afrotellers has grown and has become a space for co-creation, involving partnerships with other organisations, including the Market Photo Workshop, and Southern Africa Trust, among others.

“Afrotellers has been founded to try and reframe and reclaim the right to tell African stories for ourselves. We have moved from being an event, a conference to a movement with hubs in eight countries. Ever since we have been building the movement around the continent, connecting with social movements. For example, this year we took part as Afrotellers in Zimbabwe’s Zimbabwe Free Expression event, Malawi’s Umunthu Story Telling Lab, participated at the National Arts Festival Dialogue in Makhanda, presented at the African Philanthropic Conference in Egypt, and participated at the Social Movement Baraza in Ghana, a gathering of social movements,” explained Bekithemba Ntini,” Afrotellers Partnership Lead.

“Afrotellers the way I see it, is a growing resource, attracting participants who are willing and interested in building and contributing in several disciplines,” adds Loyiso Oldjohn, who has been involved in the conference since its formation, and has been travelling with others to build hubs of Afrotellers around the continent.

Afrotellers now has hubs in eight African countries –Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ethiopia, Lesotho and Egypt.