A shortlist of five publishers in September. The winning publisher will be announced during the award ceremony at the Creative Africa Nexus Weekend 2024 to be held in Algiers, Algeria, from 16-19 October
Algiers
The jury for the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa 2024 has announced the long list for the inaugural contest.
The three-person jury consists of Dr. Wale Okediran, Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), as chairman, Edwige-Renée Dro, a writer, literary translator and literary activist from Côte d’Ivoire, and Ashraf Aboul-Yazid (also known as Ashraf Dali), an Egyptian poet, novelist and journalist, Chief Editor of the Silk Road Literature Series.
In a statement, the chief judge for the $20,000 annual contest, Dr. Okediran, congratulated the publishers whose outstanding books have made the list.
He said each title highlights the creativity and talent that define African trade publishing.
Okediran gave the longlist of what he called “the standout publishers, editors, authors, and books shaping the future of our literature.”
Explaining the way the judging task went, Okediran described it as a “rigorous assignment”, adding, “For about two months, myself and two co-judges scored 57 books submitted by 29 African publishers.
A longlist of publishers has been announced, to be followed by a shortlist of five publishers in September.
The winning publisher will be announced during the award ceremony at the Creative Africa Nexus Weekend (CANEX WKND) 2024 to be held in Algiers, Algeria, from 16-19 October, 2024.
Meanwhile, the longlist of 13 books is as follows:
- Female Fear Factory: Unravelling Patriarchy’s Cultures of Violence, by Ms. Pumla Dineo Gqola; publisher: Cassava Republic Press.
- ‘Avenues By Train’, by Mr. Farai Mudzingwa; published by Cassava Republic Press.
- The Lion’s Historian: African’s Animal Past, by Ms Sandra Swart; published by Jacana Media (PTY) Ltd.
- Paperless, by Mr Buntu Siwisa; published by Jacana Media (PTY) Ltd.
- Sanya, by Mrs. Oyin Olugbile; published by Masobe Books
- When We Were Fireflies, by Mr. Abubakar Ibrahim; published by Masobe Books
- The Presidents… From Mandela to Ramaphosa, Leadership in the Age of Crisis, by Richard Calland and Mabel Sithole; published by Penguin Random House SA
- Reine Or, by Miss Fatou Sy; published by La Case des Lucioles
- Widows Wear Lipstick: Navigating Grief and Finding Meaning After Loss, by Mrs. Martha Kyoshaba Twinamasiko; published by Leap Book Publishers, Ltd.
- The Beautiful Side of the Moon, by Mrs. Leye Adenle; published by Ouida Books
- Peaches and Smeets, by Ms Ashti Juggath; published by Modjaji Books (PTY) Ltd.
- Half Hour Hara, by Miss Ugo Anidi; published by Kachifo Limited
- African Odyssey of a Lebanese Emigrant…. An Autobiography of Sorts, by Dr. Habib Jaafar; published by Bookcraft Limited.
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Great