Robben Island Invitational

“There was a writer named Chinua Achebe, who in the company of his books, I felt the prison walls at Robben Island fall down.”

Nelson Mandela

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2026-07-12 • Reading

Opening Conscience Reading

A ceremonial opening reading that reflects on memory, freedom, and literary resistance.

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2026-07-12 • Seminar

University of Robben Island Seminar

Scholars and authors examine the idea of study as a practice of freedom.

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2026-07-13 • Dialogue

Freedom Archives Dialogue

A public dialogue on archives, living memory, and contemporary storytelling responsibilities.

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2026-07-13 • Workshop

Young Writers Workshop

A practical workshop for students and early-career writers focused on voice and civic imagination.

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The Robben Island Invitational is an annual, international literary festival hosted on Robben Island, one of the world's most powerful sites of memory and conscience. Each year, writers, thinkers, artists, students, and volunteers from across the globe gather on the island to reflect, learn, and imagine together, drawing on its history to shape conversations about freedom, justice, and the future.

Anchored in literature, but expansive in form, the Invitational brings together readings, dialogues, lectures, performances, and participatory learning experiences. It is both a festival and a gathering of minds: rigorous yet welcoming, reflective yet forward-looking.

Implemented as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Initiative, the festival positions Robben Island as a living global classroom where heritage is not only preserved, but actively interpreted, debated, and renewed.

The Festival Propeller

The Festival Propeller is the Invitational’s engine of movement and support. It is a small, trusted circle of partners, institutions, funders, and collaborators who help propel the festival forward through shared values, resources, imagination, and care.

University of Robben Island

During the festival, Robben Island becomes a temporary university: lectures instead of keynotes, seminars instead of panels, and readings, dialogues, performances, and workshops as shared study.

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Our Neighbours

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Robben Island

Robben Island lies just off the coast of Cape Town, yet it occupies a central place in global moral history. Today, Robben Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a place of pilgrimage, learning, and reflection.

Robben Island Museum (Festival Venue)

The Robben Island Museum offers an exceptional setting for a literary festival rooted in history, conscience, and imagination. Literature is encountered in direct conversation with history, within a globally recognised heritage environment.