The 29th edition of the renowned Time of the Writer festival presented by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts has extended its programming this year to bring a fascinating array of authors to entertain and inspire children through the art of stories. The authors will be presented at a range of Ethekwini Municipality’s city libraries, arts and community centres.
The diverse group of children's authors from around the country will facilitate writing and cartoon drawing workshops, musical narratives and narrate teen adventures. The featured authors are Jayne Bauling, Nathi Ngubane, Ziyaad Ally Khan, Refiloe Moahloli, Salamina Mosese, Ekta Somera, Khwezi Mthethwa and Upile Uthixo Bongco. The programme of storytelling and writing workshops will also be supplemented by Nalibali, a specialist ngo working in the field of promoting children’s literature.
Famous political cartoonist, Nathi Ngubane will present cartoon workshops at New Germany Library and Amawoti Library. Well-known for his power-packed children’s story book From the River to the Sea, he will share his newest offering at this year’s festival, Malcolm X in Gaza.
The delightful Refiloe Moahloli will bring her award-winning stories to life with a brand-new series. Performing arts and mental health advocate, Upile Uthixo Bongco will share her Big Shoes to Fill with young audiences.
Multi-genre storyteller, film producer and media entrepreneur, Salamina Moses has a special song and musical story to entertain the youth. Teen adventure series and fantasy writers, Jayne Bauling and Ziyaad Ally Khan will take groups of readers on an adventure through narratives of dark knights and aliens, and wholesome stories of friendships with horses.
Ziyaad Ally will begin the week at Umlazi West Library and meet more readers at DUT and ML Sultan campuses with award-winning author Jayne Bauling. A packed programme will also be presented at the Luthuli Museum.
Local writers Ekta Somera, the author of Lilly the Llama Party Drama and Khwezi Mthethwa, the 17-year-old author of the book of The Key to the Secret door of Dinosaurs will bring their exciting stories to the inaugural Children’s Festival programme. Ekta hopes to inspire a new generation of children to use their imagination boldly. Khwezi Mthethwa’s wonderful story was written in her pre-teen years.
Shafinaaz Hassim, the curator of the Time of the Writer festival, said: “It is especially relevant to us that we are able to bring together this group of committed and cutting-edge children’s storytellers from around the country, and to be able to bring their stories to the children. We are so excited to be sharing their expertise in these spaces and partnerships that have opened their doors, the libraries and the cultural centres.”
The Nalibali storytelling programme will be presented at libraries in Umlazi and Chesterville. Nalibali’s two-day writer’s workshop for writers who are interested in the art of writing for younger readers will be presented at the KZNSA Gallery by Thabiso Mahlape.
The Time of the Writer festival takes place from March 23 to 28, 2026. The complete festival schedule including the Children’s Festival programme can be viewed at https://tow.ukzn.ac.za/29th-online/
All events to the festival are free. 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 and the
ATKV.
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 five 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 18 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,
showcasing cutting-edge writing from local and international authors. She
brings her varied industry expertise to the curation of Time of the Writer
Festival.
For more information
on the Centre for Creative Arts, click on the logo advert to the right of this
article.
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