Programme

On Saturday and Sunday, doors open at 10 am. The Programme on two stages is complemented by a market, book shop and info stalls. Unfortunately the STUDIO stage is not wheelchair accessible.

Download Schedule

Friday, 18. July 2025

7:00 pm | Prägehalle | Staged Reading

THE YEAR OF RETURN

The Year of Return’ is a modern ghost story and a memorial against forgetting – Moses Leo brings the story to the stage!

In 2019, Adwapa travels back to her home country of Ghana, as the country commemorates the abduction of the first enslaved Africans to the USA with the ‘Year of Return’. But she is not the only one to return – Adwapa encounters the ghosts of the past in unexpected ways.

Three women are at the heart of the narrative of Ivana Akotowaa Ofori’s Novella. For the opening event of the African Book Festival 2025 they will be embodied by Bea Masala, Edith Saldanha und Vanessa Yeboah.

Tickets

Saturday, 19. July 2025

PRÄGEHALLE

STUDIO

10:30 am – 12:30 pm | Book Speed Dating

WELCOME TO THE OTHER WORLDS!

Too many books, too little time? Welcome to the InterKontinental Book Speed Dating. Meet the authors and find the book(s) that spark your fancy.

Moderation: Edwige-Renée Dro & Kevin Mwachiro

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm

LUNCHBRAK

1:15 pm – 2:15 pm | Panel Discussion

WHAT DO OTHER WORLDS HAVE TO OFFER?

Strange creatures and superpowers might strike readers as good for escapism but ultimately irrelevant. What is the true relevance of speculative fiction to an African audience, and of African speculative fiction to the rest of the world?

WITH: Dilman Dila & Cheryl S. Ntumy

Moderation: D I Jolly

2:30 pm – 3:30 pm | Panel Discussion

DISPLACED IN CHAINS

These authors discuss fiction exploring the impact of slavery on Africans and the worlds they inhabit.

WITH: Ayesha Harruna Attah & Ivana Akotowaa Ofori

Moderation: Lara-Sophie Milagro

3:45 pm – 4:15 pm

BLUES IN SCHWARZ WEISS – A Tribute to May Ayim

IN GERMAN: May Ayim – Wissenschaftlerin, Dichterin, Denkerin, Aktivistin – hat Generationen von Afrodeutschen geprägt.

MIT: Lara-Sophie Milagro

Moderation: Chiponda Chimbelu

4:45 pm – 7:45 pm | Panel Discussion

OFF-WORLD EXPERIENCES: Africans in the Diaspora

How do Africans adjust, far from home in countries that might make them feel alienated?

MIT: Ayesha Harruna Attah & Maame Blue

Moderation: Chiponda Chimbelu

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | Arena

LITERARY QUARTET

May the games begin: 4 panelists bring one book they love to the table. Will the other three love it as much as they do? Will they be able to convince each other or is a good book after all in the eye of the beholder? Let’s find out. Up for debate are The Incredible Dreams of Garba Darkaskus by Umar Abubakar Sidi, Jackdaw by Tade Thompson, If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga & Three Egg Dilemma by Morabo Morojele.

MIT: Edwige-Renee Dro, T. L. Huchu & Niq Mhlongo

Moderation: Stefanie Hirsbrunner

1:00 pm -1:45 pm | Book Special

THE YEAR OF RETURN

In 2019 Adwapa returns to her native Ghana while the country is commemorating the displacement of the first enslaved Africans to the Americas with the so-called “Year of Return”. But she is not the only returnee and encounters the ghosts of the past in unexpected ways.

WITh: Ivana Akotowaa Ofori

Moderation: Swen Lasse Awe

2:00 pm – 2:45 pm | Book Special

THE EDINBURGH NIGHTS SERIES

Ropa is a Ghostalker making a living delivering messages from the dead and helping those clinging to the world of the living move on. As a side hustle she’s regularly protecting the world and the people she holds dear form evil powers and working on her magic skills.

Mit: T. L. Huchu

Moderation: Venice Trommer

3:00 pm – 3:45 pm | Book Special

SOMEONE BIRTHED THEM BROKEN

This short story collection offers a multi-faceted portrait of young Ghanaians today capturing their characters’ emotions whose lives collide in friendship, passion, hope and heartaches.

MIT: Ama Asantewa Diaka

Moderation: Kevin Mwachiro

4:00 pm – 4:45 pm | Book Special

BLACK FRIDAY

Cheryl S. Ntumy‘s fantasy and near-future sci-fi is powerful and unique. Black Friday is a collection of short stories exploring diverse themes ranging from rampant consumerism, corruption and oppression to community-building, faith, reclamation and healing, all with a speculative bent.

WITH: Cheryl S. Ntumy

Moderation: Solène Vangout

5:00 pm – 5:45 pm | Book Special

A FLEDGLING ABIBA

This story by noted Ugandan author and film-maker Dilman Dila takes us on a journey from mundane village life, becoming more and more fantastic as it goes, drawing us into his world of magic and spirits.

MIT: Dilman Dila

Moderation: Miriam de Hohenstein

Poetry Night ABF2025 (Instagram-Post (45))

8:00 pm – 9:15 pm | Spoken Word

POETRY NIGHT – IN OTHER WOR(L)DS

Poetry as a bridge between languages, cultures and realities: The Poetry Night of the African Book Festival 2025 brings together extraordinary voices from Africa and the diaspora who use words to take us to other worlds – and create new realities at the same time. Between performance and poetry, sound and body, a space is created for stories that would otherwise remain unheard.

A night for everyone who wants to feel language.

MIT: Ivana Akotowaa Ofori, Poetra Asantewa, Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Moderation: D I Jolly

The Poetry Night is included in the Weekend-Pass and Saturday Day Pass, but it’s also available as a separate event. Click here for the tickets.

Sunday, 20. July 2025

PRÄGEHALLE

STUDIO

9:30 am – 10:45 am | Book Club Special

STORIES ACROSS CONTINENTS!

Start your day with stories that connect: Berlin book lovers meet visiting book clubs from across the African continent. With readings, conversations and fresh perspectives – all over a morning coffee. Let’s talk books – together!

You’re part of a Berlin-based book club and would like to join in? Send an e-mail to info@interkontinental.org and your Book Club will be able to register for a special discounted ticket for Sunday.

11:00 am – 12:00 pm | Panel Discussion

IMAGINED COMMUNITIES: Fiction & Environmental Change

These authors explore through fiction, how we affect and are affected by our physical spaces.

WITH: Zoë Gadegbeku, Mamle Wolo & Dilman Dila

Moderation: Celia Parbey

In cooperation with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm | Panel Discussion

LOVE & VENGEANCE: The Inner Worlds of Women in Relationships

Whether human or goddess, straight or queer, how do African female characters reckon with the pleasures and consequences of their romantic partnerships?

WITH: Ama Asantewa Diaka, Zoë Gadegbeku & Christina Fonthes

Moderation: Ifeatu Nnaobi

10:30 am – 11:15 am | Book Special

AZÚCAR

Azúcar is a novel about belonging in a world where everything is constantly in motion: People, ideas, food and no less music.

WITH: Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Moderation: Jona Elisa Krützfeld

11:30 am – 12:30 pm | Diskussion

SAUÚTIVERSE: Writing Within a Shared Other World

The Sauútiverse was created by a collective of writers – a shared afro-centric universe, that invites writers from Africa and the diaspora to contribute their own stories and expand its library.

WITH: Cheryl S. Ntumy

Moderation: T. L. Huchu

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm | Panel Discussion

MAINTAINING THE MAGIC OF OUR YOUTH

Let’s embark on adventures written for young readers!

WITH: Ayesha Harruna Attah, T. L. Huchu & Mamle Wolo

Moderation: Chantal-Fleur Sandjon

1:30/45 pm – 2:00 pm

LUNCH BREAK

2:00 pm -3:00 pm | Panel Discussion

ALL STORIES BELONG TO THE SPIDER

Let’s find out how folklore helps these Ghanaian writers make sense of reality!

WITH: Ivana Akotowaa Ofori & Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Moderation: Helen Nde

3:15 pm – 4:15 pm | Keynote

WHEN WE SPEAK, WE SHAKE NATIONS

Forging transnational queer alliances

WITH: Lady Phyll

Moderation: Ifeatu Nnaobi

In cooperation with Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung.

4:30 pm – 5:15 pm | Book Special

THE REST OF YOU

A powerful narrative about womanhood, friendship, family secrets and Blackness set between 1990s Ghana and today’s England.

WITH: Maame Blue

Moderation: Jenaba Samura

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm | Interactive Quiz

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: African Mythology Edition

Test your knowledge (and guessing skills) of African legends and mythology with a fun and interactive quiz led by one of our guest authors

WITH: Helen Nde

2:00 pm – 2:45 pm | Book Special

BLUE FUTURES, BREAK OPEN

On Basin Island, a place outside of time, the souls of the formerly enslaved find their final resting place and a new life. Yet this peace is threatened any time a Black person is harmed.

WITH: Zoë Gadegbeku

Moderation: Venice Trommer

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Reading Recommendations

YOUR NEXT GOOD READ

Professional bookworms recommens their favourites and answer the most pressing question of all: What should I read next?

WITH: Dilman Dila & Georgina Fakunmoju

Moderation: Niq Mhlongo

4:30 pm – 5:15 pm | Book Special

WHERE YOU GO, I WILL GO

Bijoux is sent to live with her aunt in London as a teenager. Here, she falls in love for the first time – with a woman. Bijoux has to hide that from her religious aunt, not knowing that she in turn has secrets of her own.

WITH: Christina Fonthes

Moderation: Stefanie Hirsbrunner