In 2000, the association Centre d’Information, Formation, Recherche et Développement pour les Originaires d’Outre-Mer (Cifordom) organised a literary festival called FETKANN, or the 'fête de la canne à sucre' ('sugarcane festival') in memory of the history of French slavery and the sugarcane fields. The first festival was held in Grigny (Ile-de-France) and was supported by the departmental council of Essonne and the French Minister for the Overseas Departments. In 2001, the president of Cifordom José Pentoscrope created the 'Prix Littéraire FETKANN!' as a way of engaging with the Taubira Law (10 May 2001), which recognised slavery and the slave trades as crimes against humanity. In total, there are four different prizes that are awarded. These include prizes for a work of remembrance or memory, for research, for poetry and finally for younger contenders. The aim of these prizes is to emphasise the republican values of freedom, equality and fraternity, and to privilege works of memory and those that focus on human rights.