The 2026 African Women Writers’ Retreat offered a timely and intentional space for African women to reflect, write, and contribute meaningfully to the decolonisation of African literature and storytelling. Convened at the start of the year, the retreat brought together 29 women writers from South Sudan, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, Uganda, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Congo Brazzaville, as well as African women from the diaspora, whose diverse lived experiences deeply enriched the collective writing journey.
The retreat built on lessons from previous cohorts, particularly the recognition that writing, especially when rooted in personal, historical, and political realities, can be emotionally demanding. In response, the 2026 retreat integrated specialist emotional and wellness support, ensuring that participants were accompanied not only intellectually, but also emotionally, throughout the process.
Reflecting on this intentional approach, Programme Manager at the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CASPI), Thandi Makhubele noted that the retreat was designed to create balance and care alongside productivity.
“By intentionally combining technical writing workshops with wellness practices, reflection, and moments of joy, the retreat offered a balanced and supportive environment. This made it possible for participants to begin the year with rest and ease, while still producing meaningful written work that advances African women’s voices, knowledge production, and literary contribution.”
For many participants, the retreat offered a rare opportunity to slow down, process deeply held emotions, and reconnect with their creative selves. Aluel Atem reflected on the personal impact of the space:
“I didn’t realise how much I had been carrying until this retreat. I had assumed my writing blocks were about busyness and life transitions, but this space gave me permission to slow down and process emotions I hadn’t yet learned to name. I left not only feeling creatively unblocked but also with a renewed sense of wholeness.”
The retreat was also experienced as a profoundly affirming and embodied space of African feminist knowledge-making. Yandiswa Xhakaza kaRadebe described the gathering as one that challenged dominant Western epistemologies and honoured embodied ways of knowing.
“The Black Women Writers’ Retreat was a profound offering a space to be held, seen, mirrored, and encouraged. I encountered women who understood that knowledge is not only intellectual but embodied. That embodied knowing is knowledge. It was a deep relief to find my people.”
A detailed reflection by Isabella Matambanadzo captured the depth and texture of the retreat experience, highlighting the richness of its intellectual, cultural, and relational dimensions. She reflected on the retreat’s carefully curated tutorials, facilitated by Karabo, whose teaching centred African authorship, historical and contemporary literary traditions, and authorial agency.
Participants engaged deeply with the canon of African writing, revisiting trailblazers such as Flora Nwapa, Ama Ata Aidoo, Sylvia Tamale, Patricia McFadden, Mariama Bâ, and many others, while also exploring contemporary African fiction and non-fiction. These engagements were not only academic but deeply personal, framed as an inheritance of sacred texts and collective memory.
Beyond formal sessions, the retreat created space for reading circles, shared feedback, music, dance, poetry, and storytelling. Evenings were filled with creative exchange, drawing inspiration from African music, textiles, fashion, architecture, and design, affirming Africa’s enduring influence on global culture and imagination.
Wellness and care were woven throughout the retreat. Participants took long walks in the surrounding forests, listened to rainfall and birdsong, shared nourishing meals, and exchanged cultural knowledge from food traditions to hair practices, recognising these as sites of memory, resistance, and survival.
The retreat also fostered lasting bonds of sisterhood and community. As Matambanadzo reflected, the space offered not only time to write and edit, but also pause, rest, reflection, and joy — elements often denied to African women navigating demanding professional and personal lives.
“Even with the seriousness and diligence of our work, we made room for playfulness. We celebrated birthdays, graduations, new jobs, and growth. We claimed our joy,” read more here.
As the retreat concluded, participants left with renewed creative confidence, deeper connection, and a shared commitment to advancing African women’s storytelling on their own terms. The 2026 African Women Writers’ Retreat affirmed the importance of protecting and nurturing such spaces — spaces where African women can write freely, rest fully, and contribute powerfully to knowledge production across the continent and beyond.
