21 March 2025 – Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), an intervention by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) invites African publishers of trade books to apply for the second edition of the CANEX Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa.

The initiative, developed in partnership with Narrative Landscape Press Limited, underscores the commitment of Afreximbank through the CANEX Book Factory to showcasing of the literary and publishing value chain in Africa, and developing literary talent across the continent and its diaspora. The inaugural edition saw Cassava Republic Press, win the Prize in 2024 for the “Female Fear Factory: Unveiling Patriarchy’s Culture of Violence,” by Pumla Dineo Gqola.

The CANEX Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa is designed to celebrate and recognise the outstanding contributions of African publishers and authors to the literary world. The total prize fund is $28,000, with $20,000 awarded to the winner and $2,000 distributed to each of the four finalists. The prize is open to trade books published by Africa-domiciled publishers in the year preceding the prize, in one or more of the official languages of the African Union: Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and any other African language.

Submissions will be judged on the quality of writing, editing and production. Priority will be given to books printed and produced on the African continent, as well as to books published in indigenous African languages. Interested publishers should visit https://canex.africa/canex-book-factory to register, with entries open from 17 March – 30 April 2025.                                                                                                                                                                  The CANEX Book Factory is an annual programme of events under Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus initiative. This year’s programme will culminate in an awards ceremony at the fourth edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), Africa’s premier trade and investment event, taking place in Algiers, Algeria from 4 – 10 September 2025.

During the week-long fair, more than 2,000 exhibitors, including businesses from the African continent and globally, will be showcasing their goods and services to the visitors and buyers while exploring opportunities and exchanging information. This is projected to translate into over US$44 billion in trade and investment deals.

Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra African Trade and Export Development, Afreximbank, said, “We are delighted to announce the 2025 CANEX Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa. Building on last year’s successful edition, this landmark initiative celebrates African publishing excellence. Through the CANEX Book Factory, we aim to put a spotlight on the enormous contribution of African authors and publishers to Africa’s cultural identity and economy.”

Dr Eghosa Imasuen, co-founder of Narrative Landscape Press Limited and Programme Manager for the CANEX Book Factory, said, “The first edition of the Prize greatly underscored the necessity of this intervention in the publishing value chain in Africa. We are grateful to Afreximbank and CANEX for their ongoing support of African publishing. We are excited to launch this second edition, and we hope to see submissions from more publishers across the continent than in the inaugural edition.”

By BETTY VEDRINE
Bahamas Information Services

NASSAU, The Bahamas —  At a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, September 6, Minister of Foreign Affairs the Hon. Fred Mitchell announced Africa-CARICOM Day which is celebrated September 7, and honours the third anniversary of the Africa-CARICOM Summit that established the foundation for a new and enhanced partnership between Africa and the Caribbean and between the African Union and the Caribbean Community.  Present were ambassadors, senior officials and stakeholders representing a cross-section of agencies.

In  attendance: Jamahl Strachan, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; H.E. Ambassador Philip Smith, High Commissioner of Social & Reparatory Justice; H.E. William Wong, Non-Resident Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco; Dr. Niambi Hall-Campbell Dean, Chairman of the Bahamas Reparations Committee; Gaynel Curry, Member of the UN 10-member Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; and Melvin Seymour, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Mitchell said that historically, the relationship between The Bahamas and the countries of Africa, has been a strong one demonstrated by the strong stand  the ‘Father of the Nation,’ Sir Lynden Pindling took in l985 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Nassau to free the iconic African leader, Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for over 27 years.

“The Bahamas was proud and honoured when Mandela visited in 1993,” he said. “In more recent times, The Bahamas has strengthened its relationship with countries of the African continent with a view to strengthening cultural, political and economic ties.  Expanding diplomatic relations and collaborating with Africa in the areas of tourism, finance, education, people-to-people exchanges, culture and exchange programs, strengthens economic activity and provides the opportunity for growth and development as we tap into the opportunities provided by new markets.”

He said that the government has appointed a non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Andrew Wilson and a non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco, H.E. William Wong.

“We have made several official and state visits to the continent including one to Ghana and two to Botswana. The last state visit to Botswana was in July 2023 by our Governor General, H.E. Dame Cynthia Pratt.”

The Minister said that  a ‘Sister City Agreement’ between Nassau and Princess Town, Ahanta West Ghana will form direct connections between Africa and the people of its diaspora born in The Bahamas and in so doing, strengthen cultural, social and economic ties between both countries.

He also noted that a delegation from the University of The Bahamas Northern Campus, engaged in discussions with several universities in Ghana, which centered on enhancing relationships, developing MOUs and fostering faculty and student exchanges and joint research initiatives.

In addition, he said that The Bahamas played host to the Afreximbank Conference earlier this year — a first for the region.

“An MOU between The Bahamas Development Bank and the African Export-Import Bank, provides up to $700 million in investment for sustainable development projects throughout the Caribbean.

The Minister said that this year also marked the inaugural flight of Ethiopian Airlines to The Bahamas, which marks an ‘important’ step towards encouraging AfroCaribbean tourism and deepening both nations’ shared cultural legacy.

An exhibit featuring African art and artifacts followed the press conference.

PHOTO CAPTION

Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Fred Mitchell is pictured taking a tour of African art and artifacts following a press conference announcing the observance of Africa-CARICOM Day, September 7.

(BIS Photos/Patrick Hanna).

Garfield Ekon

Staff Member

The millions of African who suffered under the brutal regime of slavery, must be honoured through reparatory justice, according to Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres.

In his message to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, on Monday, he said many of those who organised and ran the slave trade, amassed huge fortunes, and the enslaved were deprived of education, healthcare, opportunity, and prosperity.

“We call for reparatory justice frameworks, to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination. We appeal for the space and necessary conditions for healing, repair, and justice. And above all, we resolve to work for a world free from racism, discrimination, bigotry, and hate. Together, as we remember the victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, let us unite for human rights, dignity, and opportunity for all,” he said.

Adding that the lives of the victims were ruled by terror, as they endured rape, floggings, lynchings and other atrocities and humiliations, he noted that it laid the foundations for a violent discrimination system based on white supremacy that still echoes today, and descendants of enslaved Africans and people of African descent are still fighting for equal rights and freedoms around the world.

The commemoration was held under the theme: “Celebrating Global Freedom: Countering Racism with Justice in Societies and Among Nations,” and delivering the keynote address, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who is the Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Reparation and Social Justice,  urged the world body to back a reparatory justice programme ,and end colonisation within the Caribbean.

““I urge the United Nations therefore, as part of its reparatory justice programme, to recommit to recommit to the agenda of decolonisation so that this crime against humanity which began in the Caribbean can finally come to an end with the ending of colonisation,” he said.

For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.

Professor Beckles stressed that the payment of moral and development reparations for the crimes against African people, will at the very beginning represent the formation of a “new and more equitable” global order that will represent a break from historical backwardness and lay the future for the dawn of a “dignified dispensation for all of humanity,” he told his audience.

A partnership has been forged between ta 55-member African Union and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) of 20 countries with an aim to intensify pressure on former slave-owning nations to engage with the reparation’s movement.