Introducing… AFRICAN JOURNAL CLUB!
Born in Barca. Based in Jozi. Built for the rest of Africa.
There are places in Joburg that feel like a creative oasis. 44 Stanley is one of them.
You walk through old industrial buildings from the 1930s and the city softens. Courtyards open between cafés and independent stores and artisanal hubs. Olive trees throw shadows over people lingering at cosy cafes. Somebody is drinking coffee or having a meal, someone else is eyeing out some of the best local designs around. Around the corner someone else is paging through treasures at a much-loved second-hand bookshop. You’re drawn into a gallery and then an interiors store and there’s even a bioscope. Conversations happen at tiny tables. There are creatives working, people meeting, life happening. People are making things with their hands. Ceramicists. Designers. Coffee people. Book people. Vinyl people.
It feels like old Johannesburg and new Johannesburg at the same time. It’s such a unique place. The opposite of a mall. The opposite of rushing. The opposite of scrolling.
The first time I sat there properly with this idea in my heart, I knew this was where African Journal Club needed to begin. Ever since I came back from speaking at the Barcelona Journaling Festival last year, I have carried this growing dream to create spaces where people could gather around journaling in a way that feels warm, creative, analogue and human. Not polished or intimidating. Not only for “writers.” Just people with pens and paper and thoughts and questions and half formed ideas. Doodles. Dreams. To do lists. Poems. Letters never sent. All of it welcome.
I think many of us are starving for spaces where nobody is performing. More being and less doing. When I met Vicky from 44 Stanley, there was this instant sense that we were speaking the same language about what it feels like people are hungry for right now. Less noise and more soul. More quiet, that might lead to more conversations. Always more creativity. More real life happening around tables again.
So, this is where African Journal Club launches. One Sunday morning a month in Johannesburg. 9-11am, two hours of uninterrupted journaling - whatever that looks and feels like to you!
Phones away. Journals and Pens out. Coffee hot. Viva the analogue.
On Sunday 7 June we’ll gather across four participating cafes: Bean There, Saint Germain, Afters and Kohi to journal alone, together. Space is limited to 20 people per cafe so booking is essential.
Some people will write pages. Some will sketch. Some will collage. Some will stare out the window for twenty minutes before writing a single sentence. That counts too. This is not about being a “good writer”. It’s about making space for your inner life again. Space for heart work.
We’re also launching our first African Journal Club postcards. Every ticket comes with coffee and a postcard to take home with you. Maybe it’ll carry a writing prompt. Maybe a question. Maybe something that stays folded inside your journal for years.
I’m excited because this feels bigger than one event. My dream is that African Journal Club eventually happens all over the continent. Harare. Nairobi. Kigali. Cairo. Who knows? Slow, creative gatherings. Most of all human gatherings. Where strangers become community because somebody had the courage to bring a pen and paper to the table.
African Journal Club will also exist online through workshops and journal sessions and gatherings for people joining from elsewhere in the country and around the world.
But 44 Stanley feels like the right place to begin. A place bursting with possibility, great coffee, conversation and enough soul to hold a dream like this well.
Tickets are R120, includes a free coffee.
Visit Quicket to book.
Antoinette McDonald
Founder: Do The Heart Work - Follow along on Insta: @dotheheartwork_ and 44_stanleyavenue
