Africa's poets,
organized.
A Pan-African network of poets, slam champions and cultural organisers building the shared infrastructure for African spoken word to be seen, protected, and heard on the world stage — in every region, in every language.
Brilliant voices, no infrastructure to hold them.
Africa's oldest art form is also its least organized industry. The talent is world-class; the systems beneath it barely exist — and that gap is where value, heritage and livelihoods quietly leak away.
of African spoken-word artists are registered with a copyright office or CMO. Royalties go uncollected.
recurring poetry festivals run continent-wide, with no shared circuits, standards or data.
colonial language blocs that rarely reach one another's stages, audiences or markets.
continental registries, rights systems or market data. The sector is invisible to funders.
Not a proposal on paper.
Before our registration is even finalised, Alkebulan has already run continental selection processes — routing African poets toward the World Poetry Slam Championship. The work started where it belongs: with the poets, on the stage.
Continental Selections
Opening rounds on the road to the World Poetry Slam Championship.
Voices from the Slam Floor
Finalists deliver the sets that earned their place in the line-up.
Behind the Mic
Poets and organisers on a Pan-African route to the world stage.
Not an event organizer. The rails underneath the art form.
Just as GSMA standardised mobile and Creative Commons standardised licensing, African poetry needs shared Digital Public Infrastructure — African-owned, open, and built offline-first for the continent's real conditions.
The Registry
A verified continental directory of poets, festivals, publishers and venues — portfolios, performance histories, embedded audio and video, and verifiable credentials. The professional network African spoken word never had.
The Rights Platform
Copyright guidance, automated metadata (ISRC / ISBN) and direct routing to national collecting societies — modelled on Creative Commons and CISAC, so royalties radio, TV and streaming already generate finally reach the poet.
The Marketplace
The employment engine: bookings, corporate commissions, residencies and grant-matching, plus print-on-demand and open-access publishing — connecting African talent to real, paid opportunity.
The Translation Network
Human-in-the-loop, AI-assisted translation across English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Kiswahili and major indigenous languages — dissolving the colonial-language silos that keep African poets from each other's stages.
One continent. Many lineages. A single circuit.
Contemporary spoken word is the living continuation of Africa's oral traditions — and every region carries a lineage older than the stage.
Hereditary keepers of memory and praise — the inheritance Accra, Lagos and Dakar carry onto the modern stage.
Swahili utenzi, Somali gabay and Ethiopian qene, bound to a fierce scene in Nairobi and Kampala.
The imbongi's praise poetry — once for kings, now for the nation — on Johannesburg and Maputo stages.
Zajal, melhun and Amazigh oral verse — among the continent's deepest lyric traditions. Included by design.
The Fang mvet epic and a rising Francophone slam movement in Kinshasa, Yaoundé and Brazzaville.
From London to Atlanta to Bahia, diaspora poets carry the continent's voice worldwide.
Seven pillars of a poetry economy.
01 Network & Representation +
Connecting national scenes and standardising competition rules, ethics and accreditation — so African champions are fairly represented on every global stage.
02 Poet Development & Wellness +
Mentorship, leadership incubation and genuine mental-wellness support — developing poets into future enablers.
03 Education & Capacity +
Certified Pan-African curricula for poets, arts managers, judges and technical producers, delivered online-first.
04 Mobility & Exchange +
Cross-border residencies, touring circuits and shared logistics, plus advocacy for artist-friendly visas.
05 Market Development & Rights +
Bookings, commissions and publishing pipelines, backed by rights registration and fair contracts.
06 Research & Diplomacy +
The sector's think-tank: the State of African Poetry Report, data for policymakers, and poetry as soft power.
07 Institutional Development +
Strengthening the governance, sustainability and administrative capacity of grassroots poetry organisations across the continent.
Where the continent's poetry sector gathers.
Highly curated annual gatherings that turn a scattered scene into a movement — sharing standards, striking deals, and setting the agenda together.
African Poetry Congress
The general assembly for the continent's poetry sector — the room where the movement meets itself.
Organizers Summit
Festival directors sharing tour routing, sponsorship and technical standards.
Judges & Policy Conference
Standardising competition ethics and scoring rubrics across the continent.
Creative Economy Roundtable
B2B matchmaking for publishers, investors and literary agents.
Youth & Technology Forum
Spoken word at the intersection of Gen-Z culture, AI and new media.
Bring your chapter
Founding chapters across all five regions are forming now. There's a seat at the table for your scene.
Trust before scale.
Foundation & Trust
- Secretariat & governance
- Founding chapters, all five regions
- The inaugural African Poetry Congress
- Mentorship, wellness & judges' training
- Mobile-first member registry (MVP)
Continental Rollout
- Rights platform & marketplace
- Translation network, 5 languages
- Touring circuits & mobility fund
- First State of African Poetry Report
- Chapters in 20+ countries
Global Integration
- Integration with WIPO, CISAC & CMOs
- Recognition by the AU & UNESCO
- Financial self-sustainability
- The Alkebulan Creative House
- African poets shaping global stages
What we're building toward.
The scale African poetry has always deserved — targets for our founding phase, measured and reported in the open.
poets on a unified continental registry
works protected with rights metadata
nations active, all five regions + diaspora
women & non-binary; 60% youth
jobs & bookings matched to poets
Not merely present in the global conversation — organized to shape it.
Alkebulan will never be a place where poets are exploited, silenced, or undervalued. We build on dignity, transparency and shared ownership — creators and enablers growing together, one community at a time.
Belong by contributing.
Membership is responsibility-based — to join is to help build healthier creative communities across Africa and beyond.
Poets & performers
Claim a verified profile, find bookings and residencies, register your rights, and grow through mentorship.
Join as a poet →Festivals & organisers
Plug into shared booking circuits, standards and tour routing. Bring your chapter into the network.
Register a chapter →Partners & funders
Back the infrastructure of an entire art form at its founding moment.
Start a conversation →Add your voice to the collective.
Tell us who you are and how you want to build.