The Oxford English Dictionary has added a range of words from East African English to its latest update, including the Ethiopian terms azmari and berbere and Ugandan expressions such as campuser, detoother and muchomo.

Oxford Languages announced the additions on September 23 as part of the Oxford English Dictionary’s September 2026 update. The entries recognise words shaped by the languages, food, music and everyday speech of Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

The update is part of the OED’s continuing effort to document World Englishes—the diverse forms of English spoken and developed in different countries and communities. The dictionary’s latest release also includes new or revised entries from Bermuda, the Caribbean, New Zealand and Wales.

Among the Ethiopian additions is azmari, a term used for a traditional poet and musician who composes and sings verses spontaneously, generally while playing a local stringed instrument.

The word is derived from the Amharic noun azmari, meaning minstrel or singer, and is linked to the verb zämmärä, meaning to sing, chant or intone a hymn. The OED traces the term’s use in English to 1865.

Another Ethiopian addition, berbere, refers to the powdered spice blend widely used in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. The mixture typically includes chilli, coriander, fenugreek, garlic and ginger, although recipes vary between households and regions.

The word entered English in 1970, according to the OED. It comes from the Amharic word bärbärre and its Tigrinya cognate bärbärä. The dictionary notes that the words may ultimately be connected to an ancient Greek term for pepper.

The inclusion of the two terms reflects the growing international visibility of Ethiopian culture, particularly its culinary and musical traditions. Ethiopian restaurants across Africa, Europe and North America have helped introduce berbere to international audiences, while the azmari tradition remains a distinctive form of musical storytelling and social commentary.

Ugandan English also features prominently in the update. The OED added campuser, a word now chiefly used in Uganda to refer to a university student. Although the term was first recorded in the United States during the early 20th century, it has become closely associated with Ugandan usage. The dictionary dates its earliest use to 1934.

The word detoother has also been added. In Ugandan English, it means a person who seeks money or material benefit from a romantic partner, commonly described as a gold-digger.

It is derived from detooth, a verb included in the OED’s previous East African English update. The expression is a loan translation from the Luganda verb (o)kukuula, which literally means “to extract a tooth” and is used figuratively to mean seducing someone in order to obtain money from them.

Another Ugandan term, muchomo, describes marinated meat grilled or roasted on a skewer, often sold as a street-food snack. The word is borrowed from the Ugandan variety of Swahili and was first recorded in English in 1992.

The dictionary also added ablution block, a term used in Uganda and other East African varieties of English for a small building or prefabricated structure containing public toilets and washing facilities. The expression is also used in Kenyan, Tanzanian, South African, Australian and New Zealand English.

Other entries included in the update are East African English, Kenyan English, Tanzanian English and Ugandan English. Their inclusion formally recognises these regional varieties as distinct forms of English shaped by local languages, histories and cultural practices.

The update highlights how English continues to evolve through contact with African languages and through the daily speech of communities across the continent. Rather than existing as a single uniform language, English has developed into multiple regional forms, each with its own vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and cultural references.

Poetry Africa will mark its 30th anniversary with five days of performances, poetry slams, workshops, industry discussions and school-based programmes in Durban from October 5 to 9, 2026.

The festival, organised by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, will be staged at the Durban Playhouse Theatre and venues across the city. This year’s programme will be anchored by the fifth World Poetry Slam Championship, which is expected to bring 40 slam poets from 40 countries and five continents to South Africa.

Organisers said the anniversary edition will take place against the backdrop of several major milestones in South African history: 50 years since the 1976 Soweto Youth Uprising, 30 years since the first public hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and 30 years since the adoption of South Africa’s 1996 Constitution.

The Constitution’s Section 16 protects freedom of expression and artistic creativity, themes that will feature prominently throughout the festival.

“1976, 1996, the TRC represent an unfinished conversation about who gets to speak and be heard in this country,” said Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts. “Poetry Africa exists to keep that conversation alive, because freedom of expression is a responsibility we renew every time a poet takes the stage.”

The 2026 festival is themed “Every Word a Street, Every Voice a City,” reflecting its focus on public speech, cultural expression and the space given to marginalised voices.

“Every one of these anniversaries is really about a voice: a generation’s, a nation’s, a poet’s,” said curator Siphindile Hlongwa. “This year’s theme, Every Word a Street, Every Voice a City, asks what we build when those voices are finally given room.”

The festival will open at the Playhouse Drama Theatre with an event hosted by South African poet Lebo Mashile. The opening programme will include a keynote address by the 2026 Featured Poet, Koleka Putuma, and performances by Ukrainian poet Ana More, Algerian poet Haroun Amri, Gabonese artist Nanda, South African performer Steel the Poet, and Dr Gcina Mhlophe, who will receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement honour.

Jamaican-Canadian dub poet and playwright D’bi Young Anitafrika is also scheduled to appear at the opening event. Young Anitafrika is a three-time Dora Award winner, known for her Sankofa Trilogy and for founding the Watah Theatre in Toronto.

The opening night will also include the Chalkboard Slam Competition, Poetry Africa’s spoken-word platform for high-school learners. The initiative is intended to encourage young writers and performers to engage with poetry as a form of creative expression and public dialogue.

The Poetry Africa National Slam Jam will hold its semi-finals and final on October 6. The World Poetry Slam Championship will then run from October 7 to 9, with competitors progressing through quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.

In addition to stage performances, the festival will host an extensive professional-development and industry programme. Sessions will examine the festival’s three-decade legacy, sustainability and longevity in poetry practice, artist mobility, contracts and intellectual-property rights, queer poetics, professional branding and the influence of technology on poetry.

The programme will also include the launch of Fluent in the Language of Burial, a new work by poet Thando Fuze.

The final day of the festival will feature a staged production of Water, developed from Koleka Putuma’s 2016 poem of the same name. The poem won the PEN South Africa student writing prize and has become widely studied for its examination of water access as a political, racial and historical issue.

The new Poetry Africa production expands on Putuma’s original work by exploring ownership, belonging, climate and ecological justice, as well as the role of ports, trade routes and nightlife economies in shaping access to urban space.

For three decades, Poetry Africa has brought together writers, performers, students, activists and audiences from across the continent and beyond. The 2026 edition is expected to continue that tradition by combining artistic performance with debate on language, rights, memory, identity and social justice.

Mahlet Teklemariam, founder of Hub of Africa Fashion Week, will represent Ethiopia’s fashion industry at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow, where business leaders, designers, manufacturers and investors from emerging markets are expected to gather from September 28 to 30.

The summit, which forms part of the wider BRICS agenda, is expected to bring together fashion professionals from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. Organisers describe the gathering as one of the industry’s leading international forums for countries whose fashion, textile and manufacturing sectors are expanding rapidly.

Since its launch, the BRICS+ Fashion Summit has hosted fashion-industry specialists from 109 countries in Moscow. This year’s programme will focus on the changing structure of global fashion, including shifts in supply chains, manufacturing locations, consumer behaviour, technology and the growing importance of regional markets.

Mahlet’s participation places Ethiopia among a group of African fashion leaders expected to use the forum to explore new trade links, partnerships and market opportunities. Ethiopia has long been viewed as a potential textile and garment manufacturing hub because of its cotton resources, industrial parks and young labour force, while local designers and fashion entrepreneurs are increasingly seeking routes to regional and international customers.

The BRICS+ Fashion Summit is expected to provide participants with an opportunity to meet manufacturers, retailers, investors, suppliers and fashion-industry associations from fast-growing economies. For Ethiopian businesses, the event could offer new entry points into export networks, ranging from large-scale textile and garment production to designer retail and creative-industry collaboration.

“The BRICS+ Fashion Summit goes beyond the runway by creating opportunities for dialogue, knowledge exchange, networking and cross-border collaboration,” Mahlet said. “This approach is particularly relevant today because the global fashion industry is changing. Emerging markets are becoming increasingly important, and there is a growing need to create direct connections between markets rather than relying only on the traditional fashion capitals and established industry networks.”

The summit comes as fashion businesses worldwide adapt to major changes in production and trade. Traditional logistics routes have been disrupted in recent years, while manufacturers and retailers have sought to diversify suppliers, shorten supply chains and respond to changing consumer preferences.

Regional manufacturing hubs are gaining prominence as countries seek to build domestic value chains, reduce dependence on a small number of established fashion-producing countries and capture a larger share of the value generated by clothing and textile industries.

For African countries, the transition presents both an opportunity and a challenge. The continent supplies raw materials and has expanding manufacturing capacity, but many fashion brands continue to face constraints in financing, export logistics, access to international buyers, branding and distribution.

The Moscow summit will seek to address some of these issues through discussions on creativity, manufacturing and logistics, marketing and sales, entrepreneurship and investment. More than 250 speakers are expected to take part in the business programme.

Key topics will include the restructuring of global supply chains, the use of cultural identity as a competitive advantage, artificial intelligence in fashion design and retail, consumer trends among younger generations, and strategies for international expansion.

The forum’s concentrated format is intended to allow fashion professionals to arrange several meetings and business discussions over a few days, rather than relying on multiple trips to different markets. Organisers say this could help participants identify new suppliers, buyers, distributors, investors and collaborators.

Mahlet will be joined by other African fashion-industry representatives, including Nana Addo Tamakloe, chief executive of Accra Fashion Week in Ghana; Brian James Kihindas, director of Nairobi Fashion Week in Kenya; and Mmantlha Sankoloba, chief executive of the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association.

Their participation reflects the increasing visibility of African fashion platforms in global industry discussions. Fashion weeks and industry associations on the continent have become important venues for promoting designers, encouraging local production and connecting creative entrepreneurs with international markets.

Hub of Africa Fashion Week, founded by Mahlet, has played a role in supporting Ethiopian designers and showcasing local creative talent. Its founder’s participation in the BRICS+ Fashion Summit is expected to provide an opportunity to highlight Ethiopian fashion, textile production and design capabilities to industry actors from other emerging economies.

The summit will coincide with Moscow Fashion Week, scheduled to run from September 26 to October 1. The event is expected to feature more than 70 runway shows by designers from countries including Spain, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, China and Russia.

Moscow Fashion Week is positioned as a platform for emerging designers seeking to expand their international profile. For summit participants, the parallel programme is expected to offer an additional opportunity to observe new collections, meet fashion professionals and explore possible commercial partnerships.