The 2014 Sunday Times Fiction Prize Longlist

Alert! The longlist for the 2014 Sunday Times Fiction Prize has been announced.
With an ever-increasing number of books being entered for the Sunday Times Literary Awards, formal longlists have been constituted for the first time, curated by the award chairs in consultation with conveners Ben Williams and Michele Magwood. The shortlists will be announced on Saturday 17 May at the Franschhoek Literary Festival.
This is the fourteenth edition of the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, first awarded in 2001 to Zakes Mda for his novel The Heart of Redness (Oxford University Press). The prize criteria stipulate that the winner should be “a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction.” The prize is open to works in English, including those that have been translated.
Speculative fiction joins crime as an influence on this year’s longlist, which is however dominated by moving stories of South Africans learning to cope with loss.
There are 23 books on the longlist, to be deliberated on by this year’s judging panel comprising Annari van der Merwe (Chair), Sindiwe Magona and Ivan Vladislavić.
Karen Jayes won last year’s Sunday Times Fiction Prize, and R75 000, for her debut novel, For the Mercy of Water.
The longlist for the 2014 Alan Paton Award, also announced today, can be seen here.
Chairperson Annari van der Merwe’s remarks on the longlist:
The picture of our society that emerges from this year’s submissions for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize is not a cheerful one. Together the novels on the long list explore practically every pressing social ill – corruption, greed, violence, drug addiction, alcoholism, the rape and abuse of women and children, the plight of minorities. A few perversions are thrown in as well, from an addiction to online pornography to torture and serial killing. It is clear that the freedom of expression the country enjoys has liberated writers to be critical and exploratory in a way that was inconceivable prior to 1994.
It is striking that most of the novels feature first-person narrators who present a limited, subjective perspective on events. This seems to suggest that in a time as fractured and fraught as ours, an all-knowing, all-seeing narrator who is able to chronicle events in an impartial way has become a rarity.
By and large, the novels were well-designed and attractively produced. We were also struck by the generally high quality of the technical editing. Unfortunately, the structural and stylistic editing was not of the same standard. In a good number of cases we felt that a book had not been developed to its full potential, or had been overwritten, and that a stronger editorial hand would have made a decisive difference.
As could be expected, the literary merits of the novels vary greatly. However, we feel that there are some exceptional books in the running for this year’s prize.
- Annari van der Merwe (Chair)
The Longlist
- The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (Umuzi)
- False River by Dominique Botha (Umuzi)
- My Children Have Faces by Carol Campbell (Umuzi)
- Lion Heart by Justin Cartwright (Bloomsbury)
- The Blacks of Cape Town by CA Davids (Modjaji Books)
- The New Girl by SL Grey (Corvus/Atlantic Books)
- Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin (Pan Macmillan/Thomas Dunne)
- Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu (Kwela)
- The Sculptors of Mapungubwe by Zakes Mda (Kwela)
- Way Back Home by Niq Mhlongo (Kwela)
- Untitled by Kgebetli Moele (Kwela)
- Small Things by Nthikeng Mohlele (UKZN Press)
- A Hill of Fools by Mtutuzeli Nyoka (Picador Africa)
- Water Music by Margie Orford (Jonathan Ball)
- The Imagined Child by Jo-Anne Richards (Picador Africa)
- The Spiral House by Claire Robertson (Umuzi)
- Call It Dog by Marli Roode (Penguin/Atlantic Books)
- Rumours by Mongane Wally Serote (Jacana Media)
- Stepping Out by Steven Boykey Sidley (Picador Africa)
- Zebra Crossing by Meg Vandermerwe (Umuzi)
- Wolf, Wolf by Eben Venter (Tafelberg)
- Walk by James Whyle (Jacana Media)
- Sister-Sister by Rachel Zadok (Kwela)
Book details
- The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
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EAN: 9781415202012
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- False River by Dominique Botha
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EAN: 9781415203811
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- My Children Have Faces by Carol Campbell
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EAN: 9781415201831
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- Lion Heart by Justin Cartwright
EAN: 9781408839805
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- The Blacks of Cape Town by CA Davids
EAN: 9781920590383
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- The New Girl by SL Grey
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EAN: 9780857895929
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- Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin
EAN: 9781250035981
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- Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu
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EAN: 9780795704680
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- The Sculptors of Mapungubwe by Zakes Mda
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EAN: 9780795706271
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- Way Back Home by Niq Mhlongo
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EAN: 9780795704789
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- Untitled by Kgebetli Moele
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EAN: 9780795704949
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- Small Things by Nthikeng Mohlele
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EAN: 9781869142452
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- A Hill of Fools by Mtutuzeli Nyoka
EAN: 9781770102965
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- Water Music by Margie Orford
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EAN: 9781868423965
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- The Imagined Child by Jo-Anne Richards
EAN: 9781770102774
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- The Spiral House by Claire Robertson
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EAN: 9781415203842
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- Call It Dog by Marli Roode
EAN: 9780857899453
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- Rumours by Mongane Wally Serote
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EAN: 9781431405305
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- Stepping Out by Steven Boykey Sidley
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EAN: 9781770102859
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- Zebra Crossing by Meg Vandermerwe
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EAN: 9781415203927
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- Wolf, Wolf by Eben Venter
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EAN: 9780624055341
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- Walk by James Whyle
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EAN: 9781431409204
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- Sister-Sister by Rachel Zadok
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EAN: 9780795704727
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