LitFest Harare, with support from the British Council, is launching a series of youth dialogue conversations between youth in Africa and the UK. The In Conversation: Dialogue Series brings together young people from Africa and the UK to connect, engage and offer insights on thematic areas of the New Narratives programmes.

LitFest Harare is an arts and culture organisation that focuses on developing arts and culture in Zimbabwe and Africa. The organisation focuses on empowering young artists and creatives through workshops, talent showcases, symposiums and research activities, as well as hosting an annual literature festival. 

The series will see six dialogue conversations organised throughout the year, with each conversation focusing on a particular theme with a particular focus on bringing new narratives and perspectives about the youth in both places, as well as foster collaborations and connections between them.

Five of the sessions will be held virtually on Zoom and Facebook live, with speakers and audience drawn from Africa and the UK. The last session will be a hybrid physical and virtual event that will be held as part of LitFest Harare 2023 in November in Harare.

These dialogue conversations aim to counter negative narratives which may prevail about youth in Africa and the UK by showcasing the diversity of youth initiatives in these places and thereby contribute to plurality of voices and narratives. By building common ground through shared experiences between youth in Africa and the UK, closer networks and ties are cultivated.

The first session will be held on the 16^th of March 2023 from 6pm to 7pm Central African Time (CAT) on the LitFest Harare Zoom, Facebook and YouTube platforms. Under the theme, “Resilience and Innovation”, the session will analyse how the youth in the UK and Africa are adapting to the challenges they face in modern times, as well as how they are changing the narrative that youth are lazy and just wait for handouts. The session will feature speakers from Ghana, Scotland and Zambia.

The New Narratives Youth Dialogue Series is supported by the British Council.