From Issue 12: Soon/Come (published in December, 2023) to Issue 15: The Throne And The Crown (published in July, 2025) Namibian writers, poets, and visual artists have continued to add their distinct voices and stories to Namibia and Africa’s literary tradition.
All of the storytellers who have been published in Doek! Literary Magazine have created stories that have helped to transform the local literary landscape while thrilling and garnering new audiences abroad. Their words and visions capture the complex history and heritages that shape Namibia; the innumerable pains and countless joys of human life; the freedom of self and the search for identity while belonging to a community; absences, losses, and omissions; sacrifices, commitments, and brave actions; movement from one state of being to transitional phases of becoming; and traveling from places of knowing to distant lands and times of uncertainty—each publication contains strains of thought and slivers of description that showcase the diversity of thought and the abundance of literary craft that is present in Namibia.
Arranged by section and alphabetical order, the following Namibian literary artists published in Doek! Literary Magazine are longlisted for the 2025 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards:
FICTION
Hugh Ellis: “Flesh Of The Sun” (Issue 15: July, 2025)
Katherine Hunter: “What The Sycamores Saw” (Issue 15: July, 2024)
Tjimamutja Pehape Katjiongua: “V and Jen” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
Jason Kooper: “Untethered” (Issue 13: August, 2024)
Jeremy Tiboth: “Poisoned Pawn” (Issue 14: December, 2024)
NONFICTION
Filemon Iiyambo: “Sonic Overload: Auralgraph From Cairo” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Perivi Katjivivi: “I’ll Tell You Why I Was Late For Church Yesterday: Auralgraph From Gobabis, 1965” (Issue 14: December, 2024)
POETRY
Jedidja Kakuva: “In The Shadow Of Reflection”, “Man Enough”, and “When I Wake Up” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Vekondjisa Nosipho Katusuva: “Aminus: Pos 11”, “Identity”, “I Have Not Yet Learned To Swim” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Ethel Mwalifa: “Enough”, “If Broken Glass Floated”, “To Be Forgotten” (Issue 14: December, 2024)
Scholastika Namutenya Negongo: “A Departed Body And Soul” and “A Road” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
Johannes Shikongo: “The Algorithm Of Fading Fathers”, “The Ombindu That Remains Of Us”, “The Oshikundu That Never Fermented” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Tjizembua Tjikuzu: “Portrait Of My Grandfather” and “Fig Tree” (Issue 13: August, 2024)
VISUAL ART
Martin Amushendje: “Between Light And Shadow” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Luigi Arnat: “Solitude” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
Natache Sylvia Ilonga: “Kasino Street” (Issue 12: December, 2023)
Omen Keisho: “Your Wings From The Back” (Issue 15: August, 2025)
Bank Windhoek, Doek’s patron and trustees, and all of Doek! Literary Magazine’s readers extend warm congratulations to all of the longlisted writers, poets, and visual artists.