Global Africa Transformed: Afreximbank Unveils New Anthology Showcasing Next Generation of Writers from Africa and the Caribbean

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), through its Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) programme, has officially published Instances of Exceptional Moments of Hunger, a powerful new anthology of short stories. The volume serves as a curated showcase of emerging literary voices across “Global Africa,” uniting nineteen exceptional writers representing sixteen countries spanning Africa and the Caribbean.

A Product of the CANEX Creative Writing Workshop

The anthology directly emerged from the inaugural CANEX Book Factory Creative Writing Workshop held in August 2024 in Aburi, Ghana. Managed by Narrative Landscape Press and led by acclaimed novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie through the James and Grace Adichie Foundation, the intensive 10-day workshop provided a protected space for emerging prose writers from the continent and the diaspora to refine their craft under the guidance of industry professionals.

Reflecting the linguistic diversity of Global Africa, the 314-page collection includes stories carefully translated from Arabic, French, and Portuguese into English. Edited by Nigerian author and publisher Eghosa Imasuen and published in collaboration with Narrative Landscape Press, the anthology explores shared human pressures—including identity, resilience, longing, shame, desire, and survival—proving that “hunger” takes many profound cultural and emotional forms.

Treating Culture as a Tradable Global Asset

Beyond its immense literary merit, the publication marks a deliberate shift in how Afreximbank approaches Africa’s multi-billion-dollar creative economy. Rather than treating the anthology as a conventional cultural project, the bank is framing the collection as a strategic investment in monetizable intellectual property.

Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank, explained that the initiative is designed to build a competitive pipeline of creative assets. To maximize the commercial footprint of these narratives, CANEX Creations Incorporated (CCInc)—the intellectual property investment subsidiary backed by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA)—will oversee the anthology’s commercialization. CCInc is actively exploring opportunities to adapt selected short stories into high-end film and television formats.

Global Recognition and Literary Milestones

Underscoring the high caliber of contemporary storytelling featured in the collection, the African works within the anthology have been formally submitted for consideration for the Caine Prize for African Writing, widely regarded as one of the continent’s most prestigious literary honors.

Through the continuous expansion of the CANEX Programme, Afreximbank aims to catalyze the creative and cultural industries into a structured export sector capable of generating foreign exchange, building infrastructure, and strengthening Africa’s soft power internationally. Instances of Exceptional Moments of Hunger is currently available globally in paperback format.