Winners of the Atlantic Book Awards were announced on Thursday, May 10, at a gala held at the Halifax Central Library in Nova Scotia. In recognition for its excellence in publishing, from concept and editorial through to book sales, Powered by Love: A Grandmothers’ Movement to End AIDS in Africa won the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s 2018 Best Atlantic Published Book Award.
“We are immensely pleased that the voices and expertise of African grandmothers at the heart of the response to AIDS, and the solidarity movement of Grandmothers standing with them are being amplified and recognized!” — The Stephen Lewis Foundation
Powered by Love tells the story of extraordinary women holding families and communities together. When the AIDS pandemic in Africa reached its height in the early 2000s, millions of children were orphaned, and in the face of overwhelming loss, the grandmothers of Africa took action. Author Joanna Henry and photographer Alexis MacDonald visited eight African countries, interviewing and photographing hundreds of grandmothers who are reclaiming hope and resurrecting lives. As part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, all book sale royalties go directly to African grandmothers and their grassroots organizations.
Along with being a CBC Books #1 bestseller, this book has received endorsements from Annie Lennox, Jane Fonda, and Kofi Annan, seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations and co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. It was first published in October 2017 by Goose Lane Editions.
“This is where the heart of feminism beats for me.” — Annie Lennox
About the Contributors
Whether it was floods in Mozambique or famine in Malawi, Joanna Henry’s job as part of a disaster aid team in Africa began to make her feel part of a “colonizing” power. Searching for a better way, she discovered and joined the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Her profoundly felt dedication to interviewing the African grandmothers and writing this book was truly “powered by love.”
Ilana Landsberg-Lewis has spent her entire adult life engaged in the struggle for the rights of women and girls. From her early days as a human rights lawyer to her years at UNIFEM, Ilana has worked with women’s groups around the world. Ilana has been the executive director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation since she founded it with her father in 2003. She has been deeply honoured and grateful to learn from the indomitable grandmothers of this remarkable movement the world over.
Alexis MacDonald is the director of external relations for the Stephen Lewis Foundation and a Toronto-based photographer. A selection of her photographs of African grandmothers was a feature exhibit in the 2017 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto.
Michele Landsberg is a feminist journalist and social activist.
“If you’re looking for a book that renews your faith in humanity, this is it.” — Atlantic Books Today
The Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s Best Atlantic Published Book Award, sponsored by Friesens Corporation, includes a cash prize of $3,000 awarded to the publisher and $1,000 awarded to the author, to be shared with contributors. Stephen Lewis Foundation Toronto staff members were at the Atlantic Book Awards ceremony to congratulate Goose Lane Editions in person. The ceremony was a bilingual gala event hosted by Acadian singer/songwriter Ronald Bourgeois, and concluded this year’s Atlantic Books Festival, which ran from May 2 to 10, with events in all four Atlantic Provinces.
Other books that were up for the 2018 Best Atlantic Published Book Award included SakKijâjuk by Heather Igloliorte (also published by Goose Lane Editions), Gerald Squires: An Artbook with writings by Stan Dragland and Michael Crummey (Pedlar Press), Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard (Fernwood Publishing), and Towards an Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge by Pam Hall (Breakwater Books).
“We will never give up, because this Grandmothers' Movement is powered by love.” — Mama Darlina, South Africa
To learn more about Powered by Love, click here.
