Organized by InterKontinental e.V., a Berlin-based association promoting African literature in Germany, the festival reflects years of ongoing literary diplomacy between the African continent and Europe. Set against a global backdrop of cultural reckoning and diasporic reconnection, the event offers a space where books, performance, and debate converge. Germany’s capital—already a center of postcolonial critique and artistic activism—provides fertile ground for this exchange.

The festival opens with a dramatic reading by Ghanaian author and storyteller Ivana Akotowaa Ofori, who also curates this year’s program. Her story The Year of Return recounts the journey of Adwapa, a woman who travels back to Ghana in 2019, a symbolic year marking 400 years since the transatlantic slave trade began. The tale blends ghosts and memory, history and identity—crafting literature as both a mirror and a monument. In doing so, Ofori exemplifies how narrative art can function as soft power and cultural memory.

Beyond literary performance, the festival includes food markets, publishing booths, panels, and live music—transforming Alte Münze into a multi-sensory arena of African creativity. By spotlighting African authors and thinkers in a European setting, the event fosters a unique form of cultural diplomacy. It enables mutual engagement between German and African communities through literature, fostering understanding without reducing complexity.

The African Book Festival in Berlin is more than a literary event—it’s an act of cultural connection. As Germany deepens its reflection on colonial history and global cooperation, events like this offer powerful reminders that diplomacy isn’t only conducted in conference rooms, but also on festival stages, in shared stories, and—most importantly—in other words

• https://africanbookfestival.de/de/4208-2/