Official sponsor of the 2024 Doek Literary Festival
Since 2021, Bank Windhoek—a member of the Capricorn Group—has played a pivotal role in the local, national, and international reception of Namibian writers, poets, and visual artists through its ongoing partnerships with Doek. It has generously supported the 2021 and 2023 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards (BWDLAs) which have allowed Namibian storytellers to be financially remunerated and rewarded for their work. The BWDLAs have brought much needed attention to the works of numerous Namibian literary artists who have been its longlistees, shortlistees, or recipients thereof and have allowed many to go on to pursue other literary projects as contributors to anthologies and as guest editors for literary magazines.
In 2022, the inaugural Doek Literary Festival was also co-sponsored by Bank Windhoek, another collaboration that made the country’s first and only international literary festival a resounding success and that publicised Namibia’s arrival onto the continental literary scene as a premier literary destination. With Bank Windhoek’s assistance, the festival hosted Tsitsi Dangarembga, Zukiswa Wanner, Jean McNeil, Femi Kayode, and the 2022-2023 Doek Collective in a four-day celebration of reading, writing, and workshops.
In 2024, Bank Windhoek became the official partner of the Doek Literary Festival. In doing so, it provided the Doek team with the operational capacity needed to host the second edition of the country’s sole international literary festival. The result: a gathering of some of the most acclaimed writers from world literature alongside promising storytellers who have come through Doek’s writing ecosystem.
Through its stellar brand leadership, Bank Windhoek’s official sponsorship of the Doek Literary Festival was key in securing additional venues, accommodation, design, and bookshop partners.
Attendance of the 2024 Doek Literary Festival was free to the public, with the costs of planning, organising, and hosting the conversations, poetry readings, creative writing workshops, and musical performances being underwritten by Bank Windhoek’s substantial support.
Doek—its patron the Honourable Justice David Smuts and its trustees—would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the following Bank Windhoek team members who have championed the hosting of this milestone event: Jacquiline Pack (Executive Officer: Marketing and Corporate Communication), Bronwyn Moody (Head: Stakeholder Engagement, CSR & Sponsorships), Hayley Allen (Head: Strategic Communication), Audrey Mostert (Manager: CSR Responsibility & Sponsorships), Samuel Linyondi (Manager: Strategic Communication), and Suzette January (Manager: Stakeholder Engagement & Events).
