THE QUEEN OF ROMANCE features at this year’s Time of the Writer Festival with two releases in six months. Nivashni Nair, Jackie Phamotse and Zibu Sithole will give flight to South African romance in their delightful books, with Hilaire Kobena from the Ivory Coast also joining the panel. Be prepared to be charmed.
Ashraf Kagee, Vanessa Govender and Elana Bregin will bind their literary threads by creating a powerful discussion around the importance of writing our stories.
“Literature forms a tapestry that binds us through history, past and present is carried between story and how we find meaning through our shared narratives. The festival will celebrate the local narrative through a range of writing, fiction and political”, says festival curator, Shafinaaz Hassim.
She adds that audiences and literature enthusiass can also look forward to a lively debate on how corruption has stolen from the people of South Africa. Political analyst, Ebrahim Fakir will interrogate investigative journalist Jeff Wicks, thoughtleader Micah Reddy and Member of Parliament, Andile Mngxitama on the future riddled with the potholes of the past.
The female gaze in literature will be captured with Qaanitah Hunter, Lebo Mazibuko and Natalka Sniadanka (Ukraine) in writing women for women, and will take an in-depth look at literature as a mirror for mental health concerns through the works of Pat Moodley, Michelle Kekana and Moshitadi Lehlomehla.
The Kings of Crime Fiction, Mike Nicol, Onke Mazibuko and Nathi Olifant will detail how violence finds its way into deadly fiction. This one is for anyone who wants to write twisted crime fiction, or who is enthralled by the psychology of the criminal mind.
Angelo Fick delves into the minds of academics, Imraan Buccus, Hlonipha Mokoena and Marzia Milazzo to unpack how the impact of colonization on race relationships continues to influence the political arena in what promises to be a leading interrogation of their individual research contributions in the field.
The festival programme is balanced with delightful conversations about romance and a window into writing as a theatre of words. It will include book launches, creative writing workshops, outreach visits by authors to community venues and a dedicated Children’s festival programme. The festival takes place live at the KZNSA Gallery in Durban and online from 23 – 28 March 2026.
The festival schedule can be viewed at https://tow.ukzn.ac.za/29th-online/ . Online events are free. Bookings for the ticketed live events will open on Monday 16 February 2026 with literature enthusiasts being able to buy a single season ticket granting them access to all festival events. The 29th edition of the Time of the Writer festival is supported by the University of KwaZulu-Natal, National Arts Council of South Africa and the KZN Department of Sport, Arts & Culture. Festival partners include the Wits Writing Centre, DALRO, ATKV and Norwegian Literature Abroad (NORLA) programme.
ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR CREATIVE ARTS:
The 30 year Centre for Creative Arts is a multi-disciplinary cultural hub in the School of Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The Centre is renowned for presenting 5 of South Africa’s leading arts festivals – the Time of the Writer festival (29 years), JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival (28 years), Durban International film Festival (46 years), Poetry Africa (30 years) and the Artfluence Human Rights Festival (5 years). The Centre for Creative Arts is also host of the 5th World Slam Poetry Competition which will present 40 slam poets from forty nations competing for the global title in Durban during October 2026.
ABOUT THE CURATOR:
Shafinaaz Hassim is an multi award-winning author and sociologist. Her more than eighteen titles have received international and local acclaim. In 2014, she was listed by UNESCO as one of the top 39 writers in Africa under the age of 40. Her novels have been commended by the SALA and NIHSS awards and the UJ Prize for Creative Writing. She is also the author of the five-book Nisa Qamar series for young adults, which has been shortlisted twice for the Minara Aziz Hassim Literary Awards and the prestigious Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature 2019. Her novel Darlings of Durban received noteworthy accolade. Kimya Writes is her latest series. Hassim presents a popular book review show called BookBytes, show-casing cutting edge writing from local and international authors. She brings her varied industry expertise to the curation of Time of the Writer Festival.
FOR ENQUIRIES, MEDIA INTERVIEWS & PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS:
Ayanda Chule
Centre for Creative Arts
Email: chulea@ukzn.ac.za
Shafinaaz Hassim
Festival curator
Mobile: 076 578 6545
Email: shafinaaz@gmail.com
