In a recent literary discussion moderated by Karina M. Szczurek, founder of Karavan Press, African writers explored how spirits shape their narratives. Ugandan writer and filmmaker Dilman Dila explained that his characters rarely appear as “ghosts” in the Western sense; instead, the dead return as animals, often snakes, reflecting cultural beliefs that avoid killing snakes. Dila’s work, which blends speculative fiction with folklore, uses these entities as extensions of himself and as messengers for a solarpunk vision of a better world.
South African author Faraaz Mahomed described the ambiguous nature of apparitions in his novel Mother/Land. He notes that the character Sawligha may be a ghost, hallucination, or something beyond language, using this uncertainty to question logic and celebrate mystery. Mahomed cites Ben Okri, Olga Tokarczuk and Jonathan Safran Foer as inspirations for his magical realist approach.
Sven Axelrad, author of Buried Treasure, highlighted how ghosts in his novel are “buried in the wrong graves and have forgotten their names.” He argues that magical realism is less a style than a worldview that bridges fact and emotion, citing writers such as Alejandro Zambra, Mariana Enriquez and Roberto Bolaño as heroes.
Collectively, the panel underscored that spirits in African literature serve as unremarkable facts of lived reality, influencing themes of memory, belonging and the unseen forces that shape societies. Their stories demonstrate that the boundary between the living and the dead is fluid, offering new ways to tell the truth about contemporary life.