By Louis Kruger
The Woordfees programme is long – I mean, seriously, 232 pages? The flip side of that is, there’s something, many things, for everyone. That’s what this article is for: to connect you with what you’ll love.
Woordfees began 25 years ago as a celebration of the Afrikaans language. Now, it’s one of Africa’s largest multilingual arts festivals – right here in Stellenbosch!
This year’s theme, “Share”, invites the audience to “create more, make whole, multiply,” and to “celebrate what we have in common”.
The programme is divided into categories, including: Spier Theatre, EasyEquities Writer’s Festival, Classical Music, Toyota Music Festival, Dance, Visual Arts, Discourse, and Film Festival. Here are some of Die Matie’s top picks in each category:
Toyota Music Festival
Booshle G, as well as Canadian alt-pop duo Neon Dreams, will be performing at the ever-popular Daisy Jones Bar.
Will Linley is performing for the first time at the Woordfees, at Jan Marais Park – a great opportunity for fans to watch him live.
Karen Zoid unites the energy of the church organ and the rock guitar in her performance, Zoid Psalms at Kruiskerk. Guaranteed to be unique, and an all-round great time!
Jazz lovers have plenty to look forward to this year. The dazzling Ramon Alexander brings his wit and charm to the SU Conservatory (where he is also an improv teacher). Accompanying him will be the talented Maties Jazz Society.
EasyEquities Writer’s Festival
Building on the theme of “Share”, Bibi Slippers, curator of the Writer’s Festival, states, “The entire program provides an opportunity [for writers] to share their work, and for avid readers to share their love of reading with a like-minded community of book-lovers.”
The lyrically enchanted may find companionship in the words of poets, both living and dead, during the Dead Poets Society poetry reading. Likewise, Festival Poet Antjie Krog’s launch of her book Binnerym van Bloed promises to be both intimate and moving.
When asked to select her favourite item in the program, Slippers said, “I’d choose the entire day of poetry [480 minutes of content for just R250].”
She encourages all aspiring writers to attend the free Boek-Deel writer’s group, a chance to “form supportive communities and build the social infrastructure to engage with the work of other writers, share and critique work in a safe and enjoyable group setting, and help one another grow and develop as writers.”
Hunger Games: How Writers Survive, promises to lay bare the difficulties and possibilities of being a freelance writer.
If you’re a writer or reader of poetry, or just someone looking for “a hell of a lot of fun”, she recommends attending “the block party celebrating Ryan Pedro’s poetry collection Prins.” She says of Pedro, “[He] is one of the coolest people on the planet […] Come out so one day you get to tell your children, ‘I was at a poetry party with Pedro back in ‘25’ – and they won’t believe you were ever that wild and with it.”
Discourse
The Philosophy Café returns with another year of (philosophy-themed) laughter. Andrea Palk, applied ethics lecturer and café contestant, promises philosophy students an opportunity to “experience your lecturers as you have never experienced them!” This is surely an unmissable chance to watch that professor who failed you in second year looking “silly” on stage, in Andrea’s words. Presentations will mostly be held in Afrikaans, with some in English.
Classical Music
The Cape Town Opera is coming to Stellenbosch, bringing with them Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, playing at the gorgeous Spier Amphitheatre. Transport might be tricky, but it sure beats having to go all the way to Cape Town!
Renowned international soloist Kyeong Ham brings the soaring melodies of “Gabriel’s Oboe” (from the film The Mission) to the Endler Hall. The lineup for the night also includes Oboe concertos by Bach, Bellini, and Schubert’s String Quintet in C.
Don’t miss this chance to hear the grand organ pipes of the Moederkerk in action.
Theatre
Boesman en Lena is an Afrikaans translation of the play by recently deceased, legendary playwright Athol Fugard. Fans of the play may also want to join in on the discussion with director and writer Saartjie Botha.
Schalk Bezuidenhout brings his newest comedy show to Stellenbosch: Mamma se groot seun (cue laugh track).
’n Begin is a translation of revered British playwright David Eldridge’s Beginning. It debuted in 2024’s Woordfees to rave reviews. See it at Idas Valley Primary School.
Film Festival
The Woordfees showcases a host of short and feature-length films, including South African productions like A Kind of Madness, Sew the Winter to My Skin, as well as a range of international works, many fresh from the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Look out for Une Orange De Jaffa (“An Orange from Jaffa”) and B(l)ind the Sacrifice, from the kykNET Silwerskerm Festival.
Visual arts
The Woordfees is hosting a range of studio visits to local artists. The full list can be viewed on the Woordfees programme by searching “studio visits”. Otherwise, a collation of the artists on display will be available to visit, for free, at IS Art Gallery, Blaauwklippen.
Woordfees is also offering opportunities to view art in the streets of Stellenbosch. #PJOart_tracks25 will display the winners of this year’s competition along a route starting in Blom Street. Kuns op straat (“art on the street”) shares the history of artworks you walk past everyday.
The Vier Afrikaans art exhibition is a collection of colourful flags created by local artists, each drawing on “forgotten words, old folktales and precious idioms” to tell the story of Afrikaans.
Dance
SboNdaba Dance sets out to “examine the interconnectivity that has always existed between us all […] that which makes us human” in their aptly-titled production, In Search of Our Humanity. It takes the form of a journey through South Africa’s history, culminating in our present-day “fragile unity”.
Free events
Nothing beats a free event – especially when tickets are this expensive. (Quick tip: the Woordfees Spaar Bar offers on-the-day half-price tickets, if you’re willing to wait in line.) Nevertheless, here are some highlights among the Woordfees’s (limited) free catalogue:
- The Oggendkoffie series of chats with various authors (in Afrikaans), and Sjjjt, Ons Lees!, a silent book club.
- Afterpaartie at Die Khaya-Kafee, 13 to 17 October, 22:00 ’til late: where “music keeps playing long after the formal programme has ended”. Expect free live music, blues, jazz, and rock.
- Various exhibitions at the SU Museum, including of festival artists Zhanti Zwelendaba and Benjam Stanwix. The Stellenbosch-Triennale: From the Vault is an intervention into the troubled history of indigenous object displays in South Africa – important and necessary.
- A wealth of discussions and opinions will be presented on most imaginable topics, including one on the gentrification of Stellenbosch (maybe this will explain why many students can’t afford Woordfees anymore?) Check out the Discourse page for more. Most of the films showing are free too.
Woordfees 2025 promises to delight and entertain – if you can afford it. The eternal lament of the scholar: Why am I so broke?
