Deon Meyer Wins 2011/2012 Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award for 7 Dae
Alert! Renowned crime writer, Deon Meyer, has won this year’s Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award for his latest thriller, 7 Dae, as announced last night at a celebration to conclude the Publishers and Booksellers Association of South Africa’s annual conference.
Meyer topped a fine shortlist, consisting of Byleveld by Hanlie Retief, Killing Kebble by Mandy Wiener, Hiervandaan by Dana Snyman, My Father, My Monster by McIntosh Polela and Stones Against the Mirror by Hugh Lewin, stealing away the R20 000 prize. 7 Dae will be published in English as 7 Days later this year.
Last year’s winner was Books LIVE member Alex Smith for her novel, Four Drunk Beauties.
Congratulations to Meyer!
Press release:
The Booksellers’ Choice Award and a cheque for 20,000 RSA was presented to Deon Meyer at a glittering gala celebration which forms part of the Publishers and Booksellers Associations of South Africa’s Annual Conference.
This year the awards ceremony was held at the Indaba Conference Centre, in Johannesburg, in front of an audience of the great and the good from the South African book industry.
“I’ll shoot one policeman every day, until you arrest the murderer of Hanneke Sloet,” says the e-mail to the South African Police Services. Then the threat becomes reality…
On crime fiction, and real crime
“Deon Meyer explains why South Africa is perfectly safe for tourists and why he wouldn’t write anywhere else. Meyer, one of South Africa’s best crime writers, likes to distance himself from the country he portrays in his novels. His books, often featuring Benny Griessel, an alcoholic detective, focus on a corrupt, violent underworld where bent cops, drug dealers, smugglers and assassins rub shoulders with unscrupulous modern-day African politicians.”
– Excerpt from an interview with Jonathan Clayton, Africa Correspondent of The Times of London
www.deonmeyer.com
The shortlisted titles:
Byleveld: Dossier van ‘n Baasspeurder by Hanlie Retief, published by Umuzi
Killing Kebble: An Underworld Exposed by Mandy Wiener, published by Pan Macmillan
7 Dae by Deon Meyer published, by Human & Rousseau (Pty) Ltd
Hiervandaan by Dana Snyman published, byTafelberg Publishers Ltd
My Father, My Monster by McIntosh Polela, published by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
Stones Against the Mirror by Hugh Lewin published, by Umuzi
This award has run for twelve years and each year booksellers are asked to choose the books they have most enjoyed reading, promoting and selling, from these submissions. The Booksellers’ Choice Award is chosen and presented by the South African book trade in recognition of outstanding contribution to the industry. The award is only open to South African authors who are published in South Africa and celebrates the excellence and high standard of South African writing. Nielsen
sponsors similar awards in Australia and New Zealand.
Last year’s winner was Four Drunk Beauties by Alex Smith published by Random House Struik
Alex Smith is a writer, traveller, teacher, textile merchant, bookseller and adventurer. She is the author of Algeria’s Way and Drinking from the Dragon’s Well and her writing has been shortlisted for the SA PEN Literary Awards and for the Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature.
The Booksellers’ Choice and Sefika Awards are presented annually at the PASA and SABA Conference. This year The Booksellers’ Choice Award was presented by Ann Betts, Commercial Director of Nielsen.
Ends
Book details
- 7 Dae by Deon Meyer
Book homepage
EAN: 9780798156219
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Apr
