Namibian literary talent continues to be discovered, nurtured, and featured in Doek! Literary Magazine, the country’s first and only literary magazine. The shortlist of the second edition of the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards features works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art from Namibia that have resonated with writers in the country, in Africa, and the rest of the world.
As part of Doek’s ongoing mission to create a diverse, curious, and robust literary culture within the country, these awards, made possible through an ongoing partnership with Bank Windhoek, are a unique milestone: they continue to be a crucial opportunity to recognise and reward the literary artists who compose and share works of literature that help bring Namibian writing to Namibians and the rest of the world.
Showcasing the diversity of literary talent published in Doek! Literary Magazine, the 2023 shortlist spotlights works with Namibian and universal themes: families and their amusing dysfunction and deeply-held secrets; the ebbs and flows of friendships; the struggles and joys of motherhood; the effects of assault and trauma and the brave, graceful endurance of the human spirit; the hidden histories and territories of generational loss; questions of land and belonging; and the gifts of reconnecting with life and the living ancestors.
Congratulations to the writers, poets, and visual artists shortlisted for the 2023 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards:
FICTION
Roxane Bayer
for “Letters To Chloe”
published in Issue 7: November, 2021
Roxane Bayer is a Namibian writer and reader. She obtained a BSc in Earth Science from Stellenbosch University and her undergraduate and honours degrees from the Namibia University of Science and Technology in Journalism and Media Technology. Roxane’s bylines have appeared in The Namibian. Her short story “Bastards Of Remember When” was published in Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology. She was a member of 2022-2023 Doek Collective.
—
Karin Eloff
for “One Man’s Trash”
published in Issue 9: September, 2022
Karin Eloff obtained an honours degree in psychology from the Rand Afrikaans University in 1997, and has been reporting and copy editing for the past 16 years in South Africa and Namibia. She published a novel called Stiletto through Tafelberg Publishers in 2009, and co-compiled the Bloots and Skarlakenkoors short story collection for Tafelberg Publishers in 2013. She is currently The Namibian’s chief copy editor.
—
Filemon Iiyambo
for “Their Mother’s Words”
published in Issue 10: May, 2023
Filemon Iiyambo is a writer and former newspaper columnist for the Namibian Sun and a social commentator for the New Era Newspaper. He holds BA and BA Honours degrees in English Literature from the Namibia University of Science and Technology. He currently works as an educator. His work was included in Brittle Paper’s Erotic Africa and Isele Magazine. His short story “December” was shortlisted for the 2021 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards. He is a fellow of the Narrating Namibia, Narrating Africa Doek Emerging Writers Program. His short story “A Thousand Ungovernable Voices” was published in Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology. He is currently working on a novel and was a member of the 2022-2023 Doek Collective.
NONFICTION
Frowin Becker
for “Deliver Me, Anvil”
published in Issue 9: September, 2022
Frowin Becker is a researcher and writer, whose creative writing has previously appeared in Doek! and Isele Magazine. His popular writing has also been featured in The Conversation Africa and Mongabay. Frowin was shortlisted for the inaugural Bank Windhoek Literary Awards in 2021 in the nonfiction category for “Is There A Doctorate In The House?”.
—
Nina Van Zyl
for “Motherhood”
published in Issue 8: May, 2022
Nina Van Zyl is a Namibian freelance writer, illustrator and photographer. She holds a BA degree from the University of Stellenbosch. In 2021, her visual essay “Threshold” was longlisted for the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards. From the gritty creative spaces of Braamfontein to the optimism of Windhoek’s media industries, Nina continues to explore what it means to create and to be authentic to her soul.
POETRY
Kina Indongo
for “Windhoek”, “How Things Are And How They Happen“, and “Our Last Conversation”
published in Issue 7: November, 2021 and Issue 10: May, 2023 respectively
Kina Indongo is a communications professional. Her first poems were published by her alma mater the University of Namibia in a poetry anthology titled My Heart In Your Hands: Poems From Namibia (UNAM Press, 2020). Her short story “Montell Fish” appears in the March, 2023 edition of Isele Magazine. In 2022 she was a fellow of the Narrating Namibia, Narrating Africa Doek Emerging Writers Program.
—
Veripuami Nandee Kangumine
for “Daughters Of A Witch”, “There Isn’t A Word In Your Language For Being Touched”, and “The Jackal Who Prepares You For Marriage”
published in Issue 7: November, 2021 and Issue 10: May, 2023 respectively
Veripuami Nandee Kangumine is a Namibian poet and writer. Her poems explore nostalgia and the multiple identities in which it manifests itself. In 2021 she was named by Isele Magazine as one of the young African Poets to watch. Her work also appears in My Heart In Your Hands: Poems From Namibia (UNAM Press, 2020) and Doek! Literary Magazine. She is a fellow of the Narrating Namibia, Narrating Africa Doek Emerging Writers Program.
—
Keith Vries
for “Jamal” and “Who Did You Leave Under The Sea”
published in Issue 10: May, 2023
Keith Vries is a Namibian poet, writer, and performer. For the past decade he has performed poetry and has been part of productions that seek to create awareness about and around the 1904-1908 genocide that took place in Namibia during the Second Reich. As a genocide activist his works and writings have been staged and featured in Namibia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
VISUAL ART
Nicola Brandt
for “When The Land Speaks”
published in Issue 8: May, 2022
Nicola Brandt is a Namibian artist, writer, and the founder of the experimental residency and publishing platform “Conversations Across Place” (CaP). Brandt believes that art and activism can assist in facilitating cross-cultural dialogue, and social and environmental change. Her work has featured as part of intergovernmental talks between Namibia and Germany and has been presented at the National Art Gallery of Namibia, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, Italy, the Universities of Yale and Stanford in the United States, and the Würth Museum in Germany among other places. She is currently working on a photo book with Steidl Verlag that explores the entangled legacies of German colonialism.
—
Katherine Hunter
for “How Frankenstein Created A Character”
published in Issue 11: September, 2023
Katherine is a Namibian illustrator, graphic designer and writer. Katherine’s work explores how art and writing can push back against the world that we live in, especially by capturing details and creating narratives without clear answers. In 2022, “Becoming Home“, her artworks for Doek!’s fourth issue were shortlisted for the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards. Her short story “Eat Or Be Eaten” was published in Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology. She was a member of the 2022-2023 Doek Collective.
—
Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa
for “The Gift”
published in Issue 9: September, 2022
Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa is a Windhoek-born multi-faceted creative. He recently had his first solo exhibition for his abstract-architectural body of work titled “Unseen” which was published in Issue 3: Stories From A Small Alace… and longlisted for the 2021 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards. He is the Head of Social Media and Marketing for Turipamwe, an award-winning design agency.