doek | (dʊk) | (noun): a cloth or a headscarf.
‘Doek | (dʊk) | (noun): Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia.
Doek! | (dʊk) | (noun): A literary magazine from Namibia.
Doek! Literary Magazine (Doek!) is a free, independent, and Pan-African online literary magazine produced in Windhoek, Namibia. It publishes short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art from Namibia, Africa, and the African diaspora.
Founded in 2019, Doek! is an important step—but not the only step—towards creating a diverse, curious, and robust literary culture in Namibia. By publishing diverse writers and visual artists, Doek! seeks to provide an encounter between local and international storytellers and a global audience.
As a literary journal, Doek! seeks to emulate cousin publications such as AFREADA, Bakwa Magazine, Chimurenga, Jalada, The Johannesburg Review of Books, and Lolwe by contributing to Africa’s literary footprint.
Though the magazine’s vision is grand, its first steps in the literary world are local. Doek! has two submission intake pools: the fiction and poetry sections are only open to Namibian writers and poets; the nonfiction and poetry sections are open to writers and visual artists from Namibia, Africa, and the African diaspora. In time, Doek! hopes to be a completely Pan African publications accepting submissions and publishing work from the continent and the African diaspora.
Doek! is published two times a year: in June or July and in November or December.
The magazine is published in English with some select content appearing in Namibia’s indigenous languages.
PUBLISHED NATIONALITIES
Over the course of its issues Doek! has published writers, poets, and visual artists from: Namibia • Angola • Barbados • Brazil • Colombia • Congo • Democratic Republic of Congo • Egypt • Eswatini • Ethiopia • France • Finland • Germany • Ghana • Guyana • Iran • Jamaica • Kenya • Lesotho • Liberia • Mauritius • Madagascar • Malawi • Mozambique • Nigeria • Papua New Guinea • Rwanda • São Tomé and Príncipe • Sierra Leone • South Africa • South Sudan • Sudan • Switzerland • Tanzania • Togo • Trinidad and Tobago • Uganda • United Kingdom • United States of America • Zambia • and Zimbabwe.
RECOGNITIONS
In 2020, Doek! was selected as Brittle Paper’s Literary Platform of the Year.
The magazine’s contributors have been the recipients of various prestigious literary recognitions. In 2021 Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo, Natasha Uys, Pauline Buhle Ndhovu, and Namafu Amutse won the inaugural fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts prizes of the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards. In 2021 Troy Onyango (Kenya) was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing for “This Little Light of Mine” (Issue 3: July, 2020).
Tamanda Kanjaye’s “Auralgraph, Lilongwe, Salima, and Blantyre: Song Of The Lake“, first published in Issue 7: November, 2021 was republished by Guernica in May, 2022.
Jessemuse Cacinda’s “Body Riddled With Bullets“, first published in Issue 3: July, 2020 was republished in the OlongoAfrica Multilingual Anthology in 2023.
The following contributors have had their work published in Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology: Charmaine //Gamxamûs, Roxane Bayer, Jason De Klerk, Kay-Leigh De Sousa, Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo, Katherine Hunter, Filemon Iiyambo, Mubanga Kalimamukwento, Bongani Kona, Dalene Kooper, Ange Mucyo, and Zanta Nkumane.
PRESS
The New Magazines And Journals Shaping Africa’s Literary Scene • By Abdi Latif Sahir in The New York Times, 2021
“All you heard about Namibia was our sand dunes, our lions and black rhinoceroses,” Ngamije said. But with Doek’s focus on publishing work by Namibians, he added, he hoped to “bring not only Namibian writing to Africa and the world but to also bring a little bit of Africa to us… We are taking baby steps in this literary marathon…and we always have to fight this feeling that we are late, that we are in the last place.”
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Intellectual Magazines Are Flourishing In Africa • By Liam Taylor in The Economist, 2021
“In 2019 Rémy Ngamije co-founded Doek!, a Namibian literary magazine. Contemporary Namibian writers are, he says, exploring the legacies of colonialism and “the unspoken losses of the liberation struggle” against white-ruled South Africa. “We’re basically doing the grassroots work of starting a literary tradition.”
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African Literature And Digital Culture • By Bhakti Shringarpure in the Los Angeles Review of Books, 2021
“The credit must go to the dynamic, creative, and forward-looking thinkers on the continent itself — the young and hip creators of popular platforms such as Saraba magazine or Kwani? back in the day; journals such as Jalada, Doek!, and Lolwe; presses such as Cassava Republic and Huza; and events such as Ake Arts and Book Festival, Hargeysa International Book Fair, Afrolit Sans Frontieres, and the Gaborone Book Festival.”
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Doek!: Brittle Paper’s Literary Platform of the Year 2020 • Brittle Paper, 2020
“Given its primary focus on publishing content produced by Namibian writers and artists, especially black writers and artists, Doek! claims space for Namibian literature within African literary culture. Its founding is a sign that African literature is not just thriving but also advancing in interesting directions.”
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Namibian Writing Front and Center: Rémy Ngamije on Doek! Literary Magazine • By Susanah Greenblatt in Words Without Borders, 2020
“There are reasons to feel encouraged: we might not, for example, put out five novels or poetry collections a year, but Doek! can help to usher seven good short stories and poems into the literary universe. It is a start—and sometimes that is all one needs.”
CONTACT
The Doek! editorial team can be reached in the following ways:
Email @doeklitmag @doeklitmag Doek! Literary Magazine