Hamza Koudri and Karina Szczurek visiting the Casbah in Algiers (Photograph: Hamza Koudri)
Karina, you have just returned from Algiers. What took you across the continent? Was this a holiday trip?
Not a holiday, but just as wonderful! It was my second visit to Algiers, and literature took me to Algeria both times. The first time, I accompanied André when he was invited to participate in an awe-inspiring Pan-African cultural gathering in 2009. This time, I was invited as one of the finalists of the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa. The awards ceremony took place during the impressive Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) on 6 September 2025. Hosted by CANEX@IATF2025, it was an incredible event, bringing together the judges, local authorities, creatives and finalists from across the continent. Representing the publishers were Theresa Ominiabohs from Masobe Books (incidentally, they publish Karen Jennings in Nigeria), Lara Jacobs from Jacana Media and Gbemi Shasore from Quramo Publishing. The judging panel was chaired by Prof Egara Kabaji and chose the following finalists:
- No pink in a rainbowby Angel Patricks Amegbe, published by Masobe Books – a profound meditation on loss and the enduring power of quiet love, beautifully crafted both in prose and in print;
- Dear Zimiby Chiziterem Chijioke, published by Quramo Publishing – a tender, courageous story of motherhood and resilience, positioning Chijioke as a significant voice in contemporary African literature;
- The comrade's wifeby Barbara Boswell, published by Jacana Media – a bold, emotionally honest narrative that confronts personal and political betrayal in post-apartheid South Africa with feminist clarity;
- Broken: Not a Halal love storyby Fatima Bala, published by Masobe Books – a moving exploration of faith, identity and forbidden love, balancing personal truth with spiritual devotion;
- In silence my heart speaksby Thobeka Yose, published by Karavan Press – a luminous memoir tackling mental health, abuse, betrayal and sexual identity with honesty and defiance.
The finalists (Photograph: Hamza Koudri)
Thobeka Yose and Karavan Press won! The trophy is next to me as I type, but I haven't entirely grasped yet that this astounding recognition came our way. When I phoned Thobeka after the ceremony, I could feel her joy radiating across the entire continent, and I cannot wait until we can meet again and celebrate together. I hope that it can happen at Woman Zone Cape Town, because that is where our journey began.
With the book and the trophy (Photograph: Hamza Koudri)
As Thobeka said in an email of gratitude to Woman Zone after the ceremony, "You guys are my family. I will never forget my first visit to the library, where my story was received with so much grace and kindness. Nancy said, ‘Write a book.’ I took her advice, and here we are!" Nancy Richards, the founder of Woman Zone, also wrote the foreword to In silence my heart speaks.
Congratulations! Please would you tell me about this publication?
In silence my heart speaks is a remarkable memoir of resilience and grace. As a child, Thobeka experienced severe trauma in her family. But she was also surrounded by love. Both have shaped her. As a young wife, she struggled with infertility, and when, finally, her beloved miracle child arrived, Thobeka was widowed only a few years later. As a single parent, she encountered many challenges, but when confronted with one of the most difficult ones – her child's true identity – she once again embarked on the new path in their lives with her fierce courage and love. No one has taught me as much about grace and forgiveness as Thobeka has. She is one of the most inspiring women I know. Her wisdom, her strength and her beauty shine in her life and in her writing. To work on her memoir with her and to publish it has been an honour I will never take for granted. To share this recognition with her is pure literary bliss.
It is not the first time that one of your books has been nominated for an international prize. You co-publish Karen Jennings with Holland House Books. Her An island was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, and more recently her Crooked seeds was longlisted for the Women's Prize. Did you know when you read those manuscripts that they not only were worth publishing, but had such potential?
You only have to read the opening of both novels to know that you are in the presence of an astonishing storyteller. When you reach the end, you are in awe. I was a huge fan of Karen's work long before I became a publisher. From the moment I started reading her writing, I hoped that she would receive the kind of local and international acclaim that she deserves and that is now finally coming her way. It is a privilege to be a small part of this story.
You are a publisher of South African books, as I should have mentioned in my first question. Why did you decide, in a country like this one where there is often no money for food, let alone books, in many houses, to become a publisher? Are books even necessary?
To me, books are everything. They are homes for stories, and storytelling is the greatest vehicle available to us for sharing knowledge, understanding, beauty and thus empathy. Without these, we are lost. Writing and publishing seldom put food on the table, but through stories, they enrich us in ways that give purpose and meaning to our lives, and can also give us the tools to bring a different kind of prosperity into our homes. I cannot and do not want to imagine a world without books. When I was growing up, my parents could not always afford to buy us books, but in my formative years, we lived next to a library. Please let us all support libraries in any way we can!
Tell me about some of your upcoming books, and books that our readers should know about.
I love all of them, of course – that is why I am publishing them – but I will mention the ones that lie ahead for Thobeka and Karen, and one for which the idea was born during my trip to Algiers.
Thobeka is working on two books: one is a memoir that will be a sequel to In silence my heart speaks and will tell the story of her daughter – they want to write it together. On her own, Thobeka is writing about menopause. I cannot wait to receive these two manuscripts, and especially the latter one, as I am also approaching this new phase in my life now and I know that Thobeka will be an excellent guide.
Karen is about to publish Swartbooij and Titus with us. It is historical fiction, part prose and part poetry, and illustrated by Karen herself. And next year, she is bringing out another historical novel, The first of December.
The CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa will allow me to publish many more such stories. One of the books that will be a direct result of the prize is an anthology of Algerian and South African writers which I plan to publish together with Hamza Koudri, an Algerian author whose work I help distribute in South Africa, and who accompanied me to the award ceremony in Algiers. His novel, Sand roses, was the runner-up in the Island Prize for Debut African Novels in 2022 – the prize was founded by Karen Jennings after she was longlisted for the Booker. This is the power of such recognitions – they allow us to connect, support one another and thrive – on the continent and beyond. I am immensely grateful for all these opportunities.
Kommentaar
Dearest Karina. Wow. Congratulations. To Thobeka as well. It was such a pleasure to host the both of you at last year's Madibaland @BookBedonnerd Literary Festival in Book Town Richmond. When I heard Thobeka speak, I knew it was a powerful story. Glad the judges concurred. You are doing wonderful work, Karina. Just reward I believe. The last 12 months have been nothing short of spectacular for Karavan Press. Enjoy this wonderful moment with Thobeka. I must write to her.