The R30 000 Jan Rabie Rapport Prize is one of the more prestigious awards in Afrikaans literature, as it recognises the most outstanding debut novel of the year.
The award was given last night to Johan Engelbrecht for his novel Kaffertjie, a book that, according to its publisher – the independent concern Zulu Planet Publishers (which has ties to the new Books & Leisure magazine) – “embraces this volatile time in a brutally honest fashion and without fanfare”. Engelbrecht is pictured here with Tim du Plessis, editor of Rapport.
Engelbrecht was ecstatic to the point of breathlessness, but kept his wits about him long enough to explain that, for him, writing “is like giving birth to barbed wire”, and that there were three things he had promised himself he would never do: write a book, dance in the ballet and play the violin in a symphony orchestra. A pause followed, and then – “I’m going to have to start ballet lessons this week”.
Finally, delight go the better of him, and he grabbed the nearest person to squeeze – in this case emcee Elana Afrika.
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