Doek! Reflections by Rémy Ngamije on becoming a writer and founding a literary magazine in Namibia

Doek! is an online literary magazine published in Windhoek since
2019. It has brought to the front new fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
and visual art —to much acclaim. Experimental and daring in various
ways, its beautifully curated editions have enriched Africa’s
literary and visual landscape quite unexpectedly. Early on, Rémy
Ngamije, one of the co-founders, invited the Basler Afrika
Bibliographien to contribute glimpses from its archival holdings
and within the curatorial frame of providing “a window to the
past”. After a series of historical photography explorations, we
now jointly curate past Namibian voices in aural graphs. In this
extract from a public presentation in Basel on 24 July 2024,
Ngamije reflects on the path he and his colleagues walked to
imagine new literary futures in Windhoek. Today, five years later,
he is an established writer and Doek! is not only a thriving
magazine but also a prominent literary award and festival beacon.