Adichie, Wanner, Golakai, Kahambo to lead CANEX Book Factory Creative Writing Workshop
By Editor
CANEX Book Factory has unveiled the facilitators for its inaugural Creative Writing Workshop this August. The workshop is part of an annual programme of events powered by Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), in collaboration with Narrative Landscape Press and the James and Grace Adichie Foundation. With this project, CANEX is bringing innovation and verve into the African literary scene. Four writers will facilitate the creative writing workshop, with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as lead. Others are Richard Ali A Mutu Kahambo, Zikisu Wanner and Hawa Jande Golakai.
Adichie, born in Enugu, Nigeria, has made a global impact with her storytelling and ideas. With a summa cum laude degree in Communication and Political Science and advanced degrees from Yale and Johns Hopkins Univerisities, UK, her academic achievements match her literary success. She has received numerous accolades, including the MacArthur Fellowship and multiple honorary doctorates.
Her novels, Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, have been translated into over thirty languages, touching hearts worldwide. Her TED talks, including ‘The Danger of A Single Story’ and ‘We Should All Be Feminists,’ have sparked essential conversations about identity and feminism.
Kahambo is a Congolese lawyer and writer based in Kinshasa. He won the 2009 Mark Twain Prize for his short story, ‘Le Cauchemardesque de Tabu,’ and was selected for the Africa39 anthology in 2014, featuring the most promising young authors in Africa. Kahambo is the founder of the Association of Young Writers of Congo (AJECO) and Vice-President of the Union of Writers of Congo (UECO). He is also Head of the Wallonia-Brussels Library in Kinshasa.
He has written several books, including the novel, Ebamba. Kinshasa-Makambo (translated as Mr. Fix-it), written entirely in Lingala. Kahambo has initiated two major literary prizes: the Pan-African Grand Prize for Literature and the Congolese Grand Prize for Books. In 2022, he was appointed “Literary Ambassador for the DRC and Africa” by the Bookutani Association.
CANEX Book Factory lead facilitator, Chimamanda Adichie
Golakai is a Liberian-born writer, clinical immunologist, and cultural nomad. She spent her childhood in Liberia until the 1990 civil war, later living and working in several African countries. Golakai writes crime, folklore, and speculative fiction, and is a laureate of the Africa39 list. She was named one of New African magazine’s 100 Most Influential Africans in 2016 and has won several awards, including the 2017 Brittle Paper Award for nonfiction and the 2020-21 Miles Morland Scholarship. Her work has been featured in publications like Granta, BBC and Brittle Paper.
Golakai is currently working on a jujuism fantasy book, Spectral, and a collection of Liberian mystical folktales. She lives in Monrovia with her son.
Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist and editor. Born in Zambia and based in Kenya, she has published several novels since 2006, earning prestigious award nominations, including the South African Literary Awards and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. She won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award in 2015 for London Cape Town Joburg. Wanner was also named on the Africa39 list, recognising promising Sub-Saharan African writers under 40. In 2020, she became the first African woman to win the Goethe Medal, but later returned it in protest against the German government’s role in the Gaza conflict.
Through her work, Wanner continues to shape African literary trends and advocate for social justice.
