11 – 19 Oct 2025
11 – 19 Oct 2025
The programme for the 2025 Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees is NOW available and ticket sales open on 26 June. But if you can’t wait and want to support the festival, you can join our loyalty programme and skip the queue to buy your tickets now. This programme offers different levels of involvement for loyalty members – not only as a sign of support, but also as a personal investment in culture and a celebration of community and the arts.
The ticket office at Erfurthuis, 37 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch, opens on 26 June. Operating hours are Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:00. The high-in-demand printed festival guide will also be available there from that date.
Saartjie Botha, director of the Woordfees, says she thinks this might actually be the best festival programme to date. From theatre and music to literature, dance, film, and visual art, and much more, the festival promises a powerful line-up that celebrates quality, variety, depth and entertainment. “This year’s programme gives a special nod to literature, the original reason for the festival’s existence and, a quarter-century later, still its heart,” said Saartjie.
This year’s theme, ‘share’, reflects a collective longing to reconnect – to listen, to give, to celebrate what we hold in common, and to honour our diverse voices. “To share, not diminish. The Woordfees’ way of sharing creates more, makes whole, multiplies – outcomes, opportunities and grace. And that, ultimately, is the success of an arts festival – it is a meaningful multiplier,” said Saartjie.
Highlights on the Spier Theatre programme include the much-anticipated return of Breyten Breytenbach’s Boklied directed by Marthinus Basson, Die ander dogter with Sandra Prinsloo, Liefde, Lafras with Antoinette Kellermann, the winner of the Reinet Nagtegaal Text Prize Huis van sand by Dianne du Toit Albertze as well as runner-up Die kabinet by André Gerber.
The EasyEquities Writers’ Festival boasts a strong and diverse program curated by Bibi Slippers. For the first time this year we have two festival poets: Antjie Krog and Siphokazi Jonas. There is also the new Day of Poetry as well as a Day of History.
The dynamic art duo Xhanti Zwelendaba and Benjamin Stanwix are sharing the honour of Festival Artists.
The Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, thanks to the continued support of individuals, companies, and institutions such as: the Het Jan Marais National Fund, Toyota, Stellenbosch University, Netwerk24, Spier Wine Estate – to name just a few.
Share in the experience from 11 to 19 October.
