Archive for the ‘Awards’ Category
by Lindsay on May 22nd, 2013
Alert! The Sylt Foundation has named Nigerian author Chika Unigwe as the winner of the 2013 Sylt Foundation African Writer’s Residency Award. Unigwe won the Nigerian Prize for Literature last year for her novel, On Black Sisters’ Street.
Indra Wussow, Veronique Tadjo and Helon Habila were tasked with choosing the winner from a shortlist, which included Yewande Omotoso, Ufrieda Ho, Zinaid Meeran and Maaza Mengiste.
Unigwe will be granted a two month residency on the island of Sylt, off the coast of Hamburg, Germany, as part of the Sylt Foundation’s multi-disciplinary Residency Programme. Congratulations!
Chika Unigwe has been selected as the 2013 winner of the Sylt Foundation African Writer’s Residency Award. Unigwe, from Nigeria, will travel to the Sylt Foundation’s headquarters within the next few months. This new residency opportunity is to be awarded annually to writers of contemporary African literature.
The four finalists shortlisted by the three selectors: Indra Wussow, Veronique Tadjo and renowned literary writer and academic Professor Helon Habila, were all very strong contenders. Unigwe was selected as a worthy recipient of the 2013 award. The Sylt Foundation called in November 2012 for writers of contemporary African literature to apply for this two month African Writer’s Residency, offered as part of the Sylt Foundation’s multi-disciplinary Residency Programme.
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by Carolyn on May 21st, 2013
By Jackie May for The Times
Shortlists for the Sunday Times Literary Awards 2013 in association with CNA, were announced at the Franschhoek Literary Festival. The writers report back.
CHRIS WADMAN
The Unlikely Genius of Dr Cuthbert Kambazuma, (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
I was at the announcement event at the literary festival in Franschhoek.
How did you celebrate?
I had a double scotch and then did a sequence of flick-flacks all the way down the high street.
What is the best line in your book?
There are a number of lines that I am fond of, but I like the opening two lines best in terms of setting the tone. “It takes a special calibre of man to slice, peel and consume an over-ripe mango while manoeuvring, with only one knee, the antiquated oversized steering wheel of a battered Zupco omnibus hurtling along at breakneck speed. Teddington Chiwafambira, was, indeed, just such a man.”
Which book would you like to see win?
I haven’t yet read the other books so I’ll have to go along with my own.
- The Unlikely Genius of Dr Cuthbert Kambazuma is published by Jonathan Ball
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IMRAAN COOVADIA
The Institute for Taxi Poetry, (Umuzi)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
In Cape Town. At home.
How did you celebrate?
I didn’t. Writers are better at funerals than weddings.
What is the best line in your book?
I admire the title very much.
Which book would you like to see win?
In most novels, wishes are even more dangerous than vampires. Having said that, I’d like a book that’s better than mine to win. And most of all I wish that readers and books can encounter one another in a country beyond prizes.
- The Institute for Taxi Poetry is published by Umuzi
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KAREN JAYES
For the Mercy of Water (Penguin)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
I was lucky enough to be in Franschhoek at the event.
How did you celebrate?
Inside I felt very shiny and wobbly and happy, like a bowl full of red jelly. I went home with some very special friends, and chatted over tea until we all felt sleepy.
What is the best line in your book?
“Where the water widened, the sun cut it into silver splinters, as if slicing the fabric of a painting to reveal a glimpse of a hidden country behind it, lit by thousands of sunken lights.”
Which book would you like to see win?
I’ll leave that one to the judges.
- For the Mercy of Water is published by Penguin Books SA
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STEVEN BOYKEY SIDLEY
Entanglement (Picador Africa)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
I heard the news of the shortlisting when they called out my name. I had decided to go with my wife, books columnist Kate Sidley. So serendipity reigned.
How did you celebrate?
Table-hopping a post-event restaurant with Moeletsi Mbeki, Ray Hartley, Mandy Wiener, Edyth Bulbring, Paige Nick, Louis Greenberg, Rachel Zadok, and uber agent Isobel Dixon, after which we moved to a pub, I think it was called The Elephant and Barred. It was a big night, and I am not authorised to tell all.
What is the best line in your book?
My protagonist is grumping about content on the internet: “This democratisation of information strikes him as so much chaff, a chaotic jumble of bits, all treated equally without fear or favour, with no way to adjudge veracity or excellence, no way to separate signal from noise.”
Which book would you like to see win?
Come on, that’s not fair.
- Entanglement is published by Pan Macmillan
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JAMES WHYLE
The Book of War (Jacana)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
At home. [Publisher] Maggie Davey called and said: “Are you sitting down?”
How did you celebrate?
I had a whisky. In a bar. With rugby on the TV.
What is the best line in your book?
“First published by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd in 2012.”
Have you read any of the other shortlisted books?
I have read very little that was written after 1850.
Which book would you like to see win?
The best one.
- The Book of War is published by Jacana Media
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Also read the interviews with the Alan Paton Award shortlistees.
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by Carolyn on May 21st, 2013
By Jackie May for The Times
Shortlists for the Sunday Times Literary Awards 2013 in association with CNA, were announced at the Franschhoek Literary Festival. The writers report back.
JACQUES PAUW
Rat Roads (Zebra Press)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
I was at the announcement in Franschhoek. I didn’t plan to go, but partner-in-crime and fellow author Julian Rademeyer and my partner, Sam, dragged me to the event.
How did you celebrate?
We had dinner with Jenny Crwys-Williams and a handful of other authors and readers at the spectacular Pierneef restaurant at the La Motte wine estate. First we had cap classique, then dipped into the estate’s delicious sauvignon blanc. It was a rather joyous affair and ended at midnight scouring the village for an open bar.
What is the best line in your book?
“This is a book about barabara ya panya – a Swahili proverb that means the roads of the rat, those little paths that you take in order not be seen and to stay alive.”
Have you read any of the other shortlisted books?
I’ve been involved with Julian’s Killing for Profit from the outset. Julian and I are close friends and started writing our books at the same time for the same publisher. We supported one another and read one another’s finished chapters.
It’s important to have this kind of support when one embarks on a writing journey.
Xolela’s Biko is in my bookshelf and Redi is definitely a must-read.
Which book would you like to see win?
Killing for Profit. I’ve seldom seen such dedication from any person embarking on a long-term and difficult project. He gave up his job to write this book. No wonder we now call him Renoster Rademeyer.
- Rat Roads is published by Zebra Press
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JULIAN RADEMEYER
Killing for Profit, (Zebra Press)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
At the announcement.
How did you celebrate?
I drank fine Franschhoek valley wine with friends. Oh, and a brandy and coke with Jacques Pauw.
What is the best line in your book?
You’d have to ask someone who has read the book for an objective opinion. I’d tell you that there are too many good lines to mention just one.
Which book would you like to see win?
Mine, of course.
- Killing for Profit is published by Zebra Press
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HERMANN GILIOMEE
The Last Afrikaner Leaders, (Tafelberg)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
Erika Oosthuysen, my publisher at Tafelberg, phoned from Franschhoek to tell me the news.
How did you celebrate?
My wife and I hugged each other.
What is the best line in your book?
A line from a letter in 1951 from the historian of world civilisations, Arnold Toynbee, to Piet Meyer, a correspondent in South Africa: “In South Africa you are faced with a situation that is going very soon to be the common situation of the world as a result of the annihilation of distance through the progress of Western technology. There will never be room in the world for the different fractions of mankind to retire into isolation from each other again.” This became the main theme of my book.
Which book would you like to see win?
I will decide after I have read the other books on the shortlist.
- The Last Afrikaner Leaders is published by Tafelberg
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XOLELA MANGCU
Biko: A biography, (Tafelberg)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
I was invited to the ceremony and thought I should attend, even if it meant risking the awkwardness that comes with not making it and still keep up a grin the whole evening. I thought I had a fair chance, though.
How did you celebrate?
With loads of cranberry juice. “Boring, boring boring,” I hear you say.
What is the best line in your book?
It is from the distinguished historian Jeff Peires: “A brilliant biography, a landmark in Biko studies.”
Which book would you like to see win?
I hope my book wins, of course. If not, then Redi’s. She’s a good friend and Biko would be proud. But as they say in sports, may the best book win.
- Biko: A Biography is published by Tafelberg
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REDI TLHABI
Endings and Beginnings (Jacana)
Where were you when you heard the news of your shortlisting?
At home, frying bacon and eggs for our Sunday morning brunch.
How did you celebrate?
Celebrate? I haven’t won. Of course I am pleased but celebrating should wait until an award is announced, surely?
Which book would you like to see win?
I don’t have a view on a specific book. I think all the shortlisted books are excellent and the authors have proven, some over many years, that they are formidable.
- Endings and Beginnings is published by Jacana Media
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by Lindsay on May 21st, 2013
Times LIVE has shared their footage from the 2013 Sunday Times Literary Awards, held in Franschhoek on Saturday evening, during the Franschhoek Literary Festival. View the full Sunday Times Fiction Prize shortlist and the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award shortlist.
Watch as Tymon Smith announces the shortlists:
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by Carolyn on May 18th, 2013
Alert! The 2013 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award shortlist has been announced at the Franschhoek Literary Festival. A longlist of 42 titles has been whittled down to five. In no particular order:
Have a look at last year’s shortlist, from which Hugh Lewin’s book emerged the winner, Stones Against the Mirror.
The winner of the 2013 edition of the R75 000 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award will be announced at a ceremony on 29 June. Best of luck to the shortlisted authors!
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by Carolyn on May 18th, 2013
Alert! The Sunday Times Fiction Prize shortlist has been announced at the Franschhoek Literary Festival. This year’s judges have selected five novels from an initial longlist of 31.
In no particular order, the shortlist comprises:
Have a look at last year’s shortlist; Michiel Heyns won the prize for Lost Ground.
The winner of the R75 000 this year’s Sunday Times Fiction Prize will be announced at a ceremony on 29 June. Best of luck to the shortlisted authors!
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by Carolyn on May 15th, 2013
Alert! The shortlist for the Thirteenth Caine Prize for African Writing has just been announced.
This year’s list is devoid of South African entries but includes an unprecedented four Nigerian writers and one from Sierra Leone. It would seem that Rotimi Babatunde, last year’s Nigerian winner, has spurred on his compatriots.
The winner of this year’s £10,000 prize will be announced on 8 July at Bodleian Library, Oxford.
BOOK LIVE sends its congratulations to the shortlistees, as follows:
- Elnathan John (Nigeria) “Bayan Layi” from Per Contra, Issue 25 (USA, 2012)
- Tope Folarin (Nigeria) “Miracle” from Transition, Issue 109 (Bloomington, 2012)
- Pede Hollist (Sierra Leone) “Foreign Aid” from Journal of Progressive Human Services, Vol. 23.3 (Philadelphia, 2012)
- Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria) “The Whispering Trees” from The Whispering Trees, published by Parrésia Publishers (Lagos, 2012)
- Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria) “America” from Granta, Issue 118 (London, 2012)
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Press release
The shortlist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced today (Wednesday 15 May) – and among the five stories chosen are an unprecedented four Nigerian entries.
The Chair of judges, art historian and broadcaster, Gus Casely-Hayford said, “The shortlist was selected from 96 entries from 16 African countries. They are all outstanding African stories that were drawn from an extraordinary body of high quality submissions.”
Gus described the shortlist saying, “The five contrasting titles interrogate aspects of things that we might feel we know of Africa – violence, religion, corruption, family, community – but these are subjects that are deconstructed and beautifully remade. These are challenging, arresting, provocative stories of a continent and its descendants captured at a time of burgeoning change.”
The winner of the £10,000 prize is to be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, on Monday 8 July.
The 2013 shortlist comprises:
- Elnathan John (Nigeria) ‘Bayan Layi’ from Per Contra, Issue 25 (USA, 2012) www.percontra.net
- Tope Folarin (Nigeria) ‘Miracle’ from Transition, Issue 109 (Bloomington, 2012) http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/transition-magazine
- Pede Hollist (Sierra Leone) ‘Foreign Aid’ from Journal of Progressive Human Services, Vol. 23.3 (Philadelphia, 2012) http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wphs20#.UZOV4bVlk_g
- Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria) ‘The Whispering Trees’ from The Whispering Trees, published by Parrésia Publishers (Lagos, 2012) http://www.parresiapublishers.com/
- Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria) ‘America’ from Granta, Issue 118 (London, 2012) www.granta.com
As always the stories will be available to read online on our website www.caineprize.com and will be published with the 2013 workshop stories in our forthcoming anthology A Memory This Size in July 2013 by New Internationalist and seven co-publishers in Africa.
Alongside Gus on the panel of judges this year are award-winning Nigerian-born artist, Sokari Douglas Camp; author, columnist and Lord Northcliffe Emeritus Professor at UCL, John Sutherland; Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Nathan Hensley and the winner of the Caine Prize in its inaugural year, Leila Aboulela. Once again, the winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will be given the opportunity of taking up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, as a Writer-in-Residence at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. The award will cover all travel and living expenses. The winner will also be invited to take part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town in September 2013.
Last year the Caine Prize was won by Nigerian writer Rotimi Babatunde. He has subsequently co-authored a play Feast for the Young Vic and the Royal Court theatres in London.
Dates for the Diary
This year the shortlisted writers will be reading from their work at the Royal Over-Seas League on Thursday, 4 July at 7pm and at the Southbank Centre, on Sunday, 7 July at 6.30pm. On Friday, 5 July at 2-5pm and Saturday, 6 July at 5pm the shortlisted writers will also take part in the Africa Writes Festival at The British Library, organised by ASAUK and the Royal African Society.
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by Carolyn on May 14th, 2013
Alert! South African writer Julian Jackson has won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize – Africa Region for his story “The New Customers”, and Nigerian author EE Sule’s novel Sterile Sky has been awarded the Commonwealth Book Prize – Africa Region. The winners were chosen from shortlists that had included SA Partridge and Jamala Safari.
Jackson, along with the other regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, will get the opportunity to be published by Granta online during the week of 27 May.
Africa’s winners will now compete with the winners in the other regions (Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean and Pacific) for the overall prize. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will be announced at Hay Festival UK on 31 May.
Congratulations and best of luck to Jackson and Sule!
Press release
The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the regional winners for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Representing Africa, Asia, Canada & Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific regions, these writers will now compete to become the overall winner, to be announced at Hay Festival UK on 31 May.
The Commonwealth Book Prize is awarded for the best first novel, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the best piece of unpublished short fiction.
Part of Commonwealth Writers, the prizes unearth, develop and promote the best of new writing from across the Commonwealth, developing literary connections worldwide and consistently bringing less-heard voices to the fore. The cultural breadth of stories from this year’s regional winners includes Sri Lanka on the eve of independence from British Colonial rule, the Socialist regime of 1970s Jamaica, and a South Africa riven by apartheid.
Commonwealth Book Prize
Regional Winner, Africa
Sterile Sky, E.E. Sule (Nigeria), Pearson Education
Regional Winner, Asia
Island of a Thousand Mirrors, Nayomi Munaweera (Sri Lanka), Perera-Hussein Publishing House
Regional Winner, Canada & Europe
The Death of Bees, Lisa O’Donnell (United Kingdom), William Heinemann
Regional Winner, Caribbean
Disposable People, Ezekel Alan (Jamaica), self-published
Regional Winner, Pacific
The Last Thread, Michael Sala (Australia), Affirm Press
Commenting on the winners, Chair of the Commonwealth Book Prize, Godfrey Smith said, “Choosing the regional winners from among the 21 shortlisted books was a rewarding journey across diverse cultures, through soaring – sometimes shocking – imaginations, movingly connecting us with a fascinating range of human situations. The five regional winners are an impressive mixture of bold, ambitious, powerfully descriptive and emotionally riveting writing that will leave us with a deeper appreciation and understanding of our world.”
Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Regional Winner, Africa
“The New Customers”, Julian Jackson (South Africa)
Regional Winner, Asia
“The Sarong-Man in the Old House, and an Incubus for a Rainy Night”, Michael Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Regional Winner, Canada & Europe
“We Walked On Water”, Eliza Robertson (Canada)
Regional Winner, Caribbean
“The Whale House”, Sharon Millar (Trinidad and Tobago)
Regional Winner, Pacific
“Things with Faces”, Zoë Meager (New Zealand)
Chair of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Razia Iqbal said, “The short story is among the hardest forms to master. The five stories we chose as regional winners all pass the judges’ tests of capturing a distinctive tone; creating fulsome characters; always deft in showing, not telling; subject matter both intimate and personal, as well as ranging across political landscapes. Reading them will transport you, as all good literature does, and introduce you to voices we are sure you will hear again.”
Commonwealth Writers has partnered with Granta magazine to give regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize the opportunity to be published by Granta online during the week commencing 27 May.
John Freeman, Editor of Granta said: “The Commonwealth Short Story Prize searches across a vast territory with relentless curiosity to select the brightest new talent from each region, and this year is stronger than ever. With voices that arrest, affirm, disturb and illuminate, this new crop of writers turn our expectations for what a story can do, and of where they are calling from, inside out. This partnership is an example of what the magazine can be at best – a beacon for those writers we didn’t know we were missing out on – and we salute Commonwealth Writers in their continuing good work.”
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by Carolyn on May 13th, 2013
Alert! The Sunday Times revealed the longlists for its 2013 literary awards yesterday.
This year’s Alan Paton Award longlist sees 42 titles competing for the R75 000 prize, won last year by Hugh Lewin for Stones Against the Mirror, which will be judged by Peter Harris, Prishani Naidoo and Ben Williams. View last year’s longlist of 41 titles and the six shortlisted titles.
The shortlist of five will be announced on Saturday evening at the Franschhoek Literary Festival.
View the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award longlist, with Naidoo’s comments on the list below:
- Jane Raphaely Unedited by Jane Raphaely, Associated Media Publishing
- A Bantu in my Bathroom by Eusebius McKaiser, Bookstorm
- Mobinomics by Alan Knott-Craig with Gus Silber, Bookstorm
- Back in from the Anger by Roger Lucey, Jacana
- Endings and Beginnings by Redi Tlhabi, Jacana
- The Kebble Collusion by Barry Sergeant, Jacana
- Songs and Secrets by Barry Gilder, Jacana
- Who Rules South Africa? by Martin Plaut and Paul Holden, Jonathan Ball
- Death of an Idealist by Beverley Naidoo, Jonathan Ball
- JM Coetzee: A Life in Writing by JC Kannemeyer, Jonathan Ball
- Zuma Exposed by Adriaan Basson, Jonathan Ball
- Under our Skin by Donald McRae, Simon & Schuster
- The Beauty of the Line by Chabani Manganyi, KMM Review
- Lost in Transformation by Sampie Terreblanche, KMM Review
- Eloquent Body by Dawn Garisch, Modjaji Books
- Swimming with Cobras by Rosemary Smith, Modjaji Books
- Eight Days in September by Frank Chikane, Picador Africa
- Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life by Emma Mashinini, Picador Africa
- The Hungry Season by Leonie Joubert & Eric Miller, Pan Macmillan
- Thinking up a Hurricane by Martinique Stilwell, Penguin
- Conversations with My Sons and Daughters by Mamphela Ramphele, Penguin
- Eye on the Diamonds by Terry Crawford-Browne, Penguin
- Africa’s Third Liberation by Greg Mills and Jeffrey Herbst, Penguin
- Africa’s Future by Duncan Clarke, Profile Books
- Disputed Land by Louis Changuion and Bertus Steenkamp, Protea Boekhuis
- Clarence van Buuren by Chris Marnewick, Protea Boekhuis
- Mangaung: Kings and Kingmakers by Mandy Rossouw, Kwela
- Endgame by Willie Esterhuyse, Tafelberg
- Biko: A Biography by Xolela Mangcu, Tafelberg
- Poor White by Edward-John Bottomley, Tafelberg
- The Last Afrikaner Leaders by Hermann Giliomee, Tafelberg
- Spanner in the Works by Pat Fahrenfort, Umuzi
- Love Sex Fleas God by Bruce Clark, Umuzi
- Rat Roads by Jacques Pauw, Zebra Press
- Killing for Profit by Julian Rademeyer, Zebra Press
- Extreme Environment by Ivo Vegter, Zebra Press
- The Art of Losing by Luke Alfred, Zebra Press
- We Remember Differently by Jyoti Mistry & Jordache A Ellapen, Unisa Press
- Reading Revolution by Ashwin Desai, Unisa Press
- Roots and Routes by Michael de Jongh, Unisa Press
- Seedlings by Elwyn Jenkins, Unisa Press
- The Hidden History of South Africa’s Reading Cultures by Archie L Dick, UKZN Press
~~~
Prishani Naidoo, chairperson of the judging panel
Reading the books on this year’s longlist for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, brought to you in association with CNA, has been interesting for what it has revealed about the concerns and passions of South African authors today. While apartheid continues to provide the context for a number of the autobiographies, biographies and historical texts, attention to individual experience and life outside of that sphere of society traditionally considered political help to add new dimensions to our collective memory of that period and its imprint on the present.
At the same time, the post-apartheid context also features centrally in the work of several of the authors, with the fraught and corrupt nature of relations within the political realm being a common theme, and several books exploring the experiences of war and genocide beyond South Africa’s borders.
While the longlist overall reflects a society engaged critically in confronting a range of important issues, there seems to have been less experimentation this year with narrative style and form, and less attention to the quality of writing. Only a few books stood out in this respect, which was disappointing.
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- A Bantu in My Bathroom: Debating Race, Sexuality and Other Uncomfortable South African Topics by Eusebius McKaiser
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- Disputed Land: The Historical Development of the South African Land Issue 1652-2011 by Louis Changuion, Bertus Steenkamp
EAN: 9781869197742
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by Carolyn on May 13th, 2013
Alert! The Sunday Times revealed the longlists for its 2013 literary awards yesterday.
There are 31 titles on this year’s Fiction Prize longlist. Judges Michele Magwood, Sarah Nuttall and Andries Oliphant will be narrowing these down to a shortlist of five, which will be announced at the Franschhoek Literary Festival on Saturday evening.
Michiel Heyns took home the R75 000 prize last year for his novel Lost Ground. View last year’s longlist of 39 titles and the five shortlisted titles.
The longlist for the 2013 Alan Paton Award, which also comes with a R75 000 prize, can be seen here.
View the Sunday Times Fiction Prize longlist, with Nuttall’s comments on the list below:
The Longlist
- The Book of War by James Whyle, Jacana
- Khalil’s Journey by Ashraf Kagee, Jacana
- The Murder of Norman Ware by Rosamund Kendal, Jacana
- Tanuki Ichiban by Zinaid Meeran, Jacana
- The Unlikely Genius of Dr Cuthbert Kambazuma by Chris Wadman, Jonathan Ball
- Invisible Furies by Michiel Heyns, Jonathan Ball
- The Housemaid’s Daughter by Barbara Mutch, Headline
- Held up by Chris Radmann, Headline
- A Triple-Headed Serpent by Marié Heese, Human & Rousseau
- The Skin Collector by Chris Karsten, Human & Rousseau
- Forget-me-not Blues by Marita van der Vyver, Tafelberg
- The State vs Anna Bruwer by Anchien Troskie (as Elbie Lotter), Kwela
- When in Broad Daylight I Open My Eyes by Greg Lazarus, Kwela
- No Time Like the Present by Nadine Gordimer, Picador Africa
- Entanglement by Steven Boykey Sidley, Picador Africa
- Survival Training for Lonely Hearts by Elana Bregin, Pan Macmillan
- Redemption Song by Amanda Coetzee, Pan Macmillan
- For the Mercy of Water by Karen Jayes, Penguin
- Us and Them by Rosemund J Handler, Penguin
- Journey from Darkness by Gareth and Llewellyn Crocker, Penguin
- Spud: Exit, Pursued by a Bear by John van de Ruit, Penguin
- Babies in Waiting by Rosie Fiore, Quercus
- Smoke of Forgiveness by Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala, Reach Publishers
- Capture by Roger Smith, Serpent’s Tail
- Home Remedies by Diane Awerbuck, Umuzi
- The Institute for Taxi Poetry by Imraan Coovadia, Umuzi
- Lessons in Husbandry by Shaida Kazie Ali, Umuzi
- Eric the Brave by Johan Vlok Louw, Umuzi
- Solace by Andrew Brown, Zebra
- Philida by Andre Brink, Harvill & Secker
- Life Underwater by Ken Barris, Kwela
~~~
Comment from Sarah Nuttall, chairperson of the judging panel
The longlist for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, brought to you in association with CNA, this year again reveals the range of writing emerging in South Africa: crime, historical novels, dystopian fiction, dark and unsettling satire, chicklit, and experimental, inventive, ideas-driven prose. It is a vigorous and rich output that wasn’t there 10 years ago, and the quality of editing has also improved substantially since then.
A large number of books on the longlist this year are crime novels. Why are so many writers attracted to this genre? For some it may signal a fast track to publication. But more significantly, it would seem that it relates to a form of social anxiety about crime in this country, expressing itself in a fictional form which enables writers to move away from the more formal and politically entrenched features of the post-apartheid novel. It allows for a good degree of humour and wit and a different cast of characters to be drawn in. It combines socio-political issues with the whodunit.
This having been said, the tropes of some South African crime fiction are a little stale and need renewal. Characters sometimes appear cartoonish, and the conventions of the genre too constraining, and a certain “cosiness” seems to be emerging among some local crime writers, who include each other’s characters in their books.
Undoubtedly, the Fiction Prize — and South African writing generally — must make way for the many stories that need to be told in SA and we have to keep encouraging new and interesting writers. These include the blackly riotous reads of potent satire, as well as historical novels which deal with some of the sorry and ignored episodes in our history. The visceral rhythms and richness of language in these stories also serve to make language stronger and more subtle.
Some of the strongest contenders this year are novels that are not ostensibly set in South Africa but which contain strong affiliations to this place. In some, place is unnamed, as is race; others appear to be complex amalgamations of different places. This seems to give the writers latitude to explore South Africain-the-world, and to take on issues that may be both South African and not. It is disconcerting for the reader to discover how familiar this alternative South Africa becomes — a place that is not reduced to the histories that converge in it. Rather, we are shown a place that is powerfully familiar but produced by radically different circumstances.
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eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
eBook options – Download now!
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Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
Apr
