Karavan Press, a Cape Town-based independent publisher, has won the 2025 CANEX Book Factory Prize for Publishing in Africa, a prestigious award that celebrates the literary contributions of African publishers and authors.
Karavan Press received the top prize of $20,000 for its book, In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose. The award was presented by Algeria’s Minister of Culture and Arts, Azzedine Mihoubi, during a ceremony at the Intra-African Trade Fair 2025 (IATF2025) in Algiers. The finalists each received $2,000.
The prize is a joint initiative of the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), an African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) program, and Narrative Landscape Press Limited. It aims to showcase Africa’s literary and publishing industry and develop new writing talent across the continent and the diaspora.
“We continue to strengthen Africa’s creative economy by elevating publishers and amplifying African narratives for global audiences,” said Temwa Gondwe, Director for Intra African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank. Gondwe added that beyond the prize, CANEX supports the book value chain through a Pan-African writing workshop and a newsletter that highlights African literature.
Now in its second year, the prize drew more than 80 submissions from across Africa, reflecting the rich diversity of the continent’s storytelling. Publishers submitted trade books—including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry—that were widely available to the public. The jury focused on works printed and published on the continent, particularly those written in indigenous languages. Entries could be in any of the official languages of the African Union, as well as any other African language, and were judged on the quality of writing, editing, and production.
The jury was composed of Dr. Boukenna Abdelaziz, a Professor of History at Algiers University; Lavaille Lavette, President of JVL Media; and Prof. Egara Kabaji, a Professor of Literary Communication at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.
The prize is a key event within the CANEX Book Factory, an annual program under Afreximbank’s CANEX initiative. The inaugural prize was awarded last year to Cassava Republic Press (Nigeria) for the book Female Fear Factory: Unveiling Patriarchy’s Culture of Violence by Pumla Dineo Gqola.
CANEX at IATF2025 is a major gathering of creatives from Africa and the diaspora, spanning industries from film, music, and fashion to culinary arts and visual arts. The week-long summit provides a platform for businesses to showcase their products and explore investment opportunities.
Hosted by the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and co-convened by Afreximbank, the African Union Commission, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, IATF2025 is projected to facilitate over US$44 billion in trade and and investment deals. The event aims to leverage the opportunities presented by AfCFTA’s single market, which includes more than 1.4 billion people and has a GDP exceeding US$3.5 trillion. The last three editions of the IATF have collectively generated over $118 billion in trade and investment deals.