Alert! The winners of the 2009 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature – given biennially – were announced last night in Cape Town. Two gold and three silver prizes were dished out – and BOOK SA member Alex Smith was amongst the gong-ees, winning a silver award in the English category. Congratulations to her!
The other winners were Dumisani Sibiya (Zulu – gold), Adeline Radloff (English – gold), Derick van der Walt (Afrikaans – silver) – all pictured above – and Mabonchi Motimele Goodwill (Sotho – silver). All the medalists will have their works published by Tafelberg Publishers, an imprint of the NB group, in October 2010. It’s not certain whether there are other prizes involved (i.e., cold hard cash).
One note of interest is that it’s Sibiya’s third Sanlam win, and van der Walt’s second.
Here’s the release from NB:
Press release
A unique relationship between Sanlam and Tafelberg Publishers has over the years fostered the publication of new titles in youth literature: the biennial Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature. The names of the 2009 winners were announced at a gala evening held at the Officers Club in Century City on Wednesday, 17 March 2010.
The theme of the winning stories, and the evening as a whole, was humour, and there was no shortage of laughs and smiles as the audience was regaled on a choice selection of contrasting tales by master of ceremonies Marc Lottering. The event marked the announcement of the thirteenth Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature after its inception in 1980, when it was initially awarded only every three years, later transforming to a biennial event.
This year, two gold and three silver prizes were awarded. The judges in the English- and Nguni-language categories were especially impressed with the quality of entries they received.
The gold medal winner for 2009 in the Nguni languages category is the Johannesburg author and publisher Dumisani Sibiya, for his story Ngiyolibala Ngife (IsiZulu). The moderator, Professor Bheki Ntuli, recommended that this story be awarded the highest honour. It is the third time that Dumisani Sibiya has received a Sanlam Prize.
In the English-language category debutante Adeline Radloff was named as the winner of a gold prize for her story Sidekick, which the judges described as “a well-plotted adventure story written with a sure hand, a very competent grasp of dialogue, and a fine-tuned sense of irony, which gives the story its rather dark humour”.
The silver award in the English category went to Alex Smith for her story Agency Blue, described as follows by the judges: “Whacky and sophisticated with an accomplished sense of magic realism…sassy and highly original.”
Adeline Radloff and Alex Smith both live in Cape Town.
In the Afrikaans category only one prize was awarded. Derick van der Walt from Pretoria won again, after debuting in 2007 with Lien se lankstaanskoene. This time he received a silver prize for Willem Poprok. The judges were impressed by the flowing story development, fine characterisation and surprising twists that readers will find consistently captivating. They added that “it is an exciting and strong attribute of this story that it also has an underlying theme (that does not impose itself) of diversity between the genders, races and generations”.
In the category for Sotho languages, debutante Mabonchi Motimele Goodwill from Limpopo received a silver prize for his story Ke a hwa, ke a ikepela, written in Sepedi. It is the first time a Sanlam Prize has been awarded to a Sepedi work.
All the winning titles will be available in bookstores from October 2010.
Sanlam and Tafelberg are extremely proud of the positive reaction that the Sanlam Prize elicits. Over the past 13 years many of the winning works have been awarded other prizes, among them the MER Prize for Youth Literature, the Scheepers Prize, ATKV prizes (awarded by young readers), the CP Hoogenhout Award, and M-Net prizes. Some of the works have also been published internationally. Through this competition Sanlam helps develop both readers and authors, providing a much richer literary landscape for young readers.
In her speech, Eloise Wessels, chief executive officer of NB Publishers (of which Tafelberg is an imprint), announced the theme for the next Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, to be held in 2011. This time round the organisers will be looking for stories in which hope plays a role. The closing date for entries for the next competition is 30 June 2011.
Alert! Authors Marié Heese and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani have won the Commonwealth Writers Prize – Africa region awards, for their novels The Double Crown: Secret Writings of the Female Pharaoh, which took the Best Book gong, and I Do Not Come to You by Chance, which was acknowledged as Best First Book. Heese and Nwaubani each win £1 000, and go on to compete for the overall prizes of Best Book (£10 000) and Best First Book (£5 000) in May.
The works were each selected from shortlists of seven. The announcement was made in Johannesburg this morning, at the SABC’s Radio Park campus, where Lebo Mashile – a Noma Award winner – presided over addresses by the British High Commissioner, Nicola Brewer, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Africa Region judge Dan Ojwang, chairperson of the Africa Region prize, Elinor Sisulu and the SABC’s Phil Molefe. Brewer and the Acting High Commissioner of India, Shri Shambhu Kumaran, announced the winners.
Heese hails from Stilbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape, and is previously best-known for her children’s books. She publishes in both Afrikaans and English, and is the daughter of the revered Afrikaans author Audrey Blignaut (see her book on her mother, Audrey Blignault: uit die dagboek van ‘n vrou). The Double Crown has emerged as the winner from an extremely strong field, which included the likes of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mark Behr, Zakes Mda and Andrew Brown.
Nwaubani keeps Nigeria’s “Best First Book” winning streak alive, following as she does in the footsteps of a certain Uwem Akpan, who rose to the heights of world literature after winning the prize last year and going on to become an Oprah Book Club choice. “I was born in Enugu, Nigeria,”, she tells African Writing in a comprehensive 2009 interview, “A year later, my parents moved to my hometown, Umuahia. I spent the first part of my childhood years in Umuahia Town—in the GRA, close to the railway station, amongst the expatriates and the Rotary Club members.” In a refreshing development for Nigerian letters, Nwaubani remains based in her home country. Her fellow shortlistees included the likes of Ghana’s Ayesha Harruna Attah and South Africa’s Alistair Morgan.
Speaking on behalf of the CWP Africa Region judges, Dan Ojwang remarked:
It is noteworthy that of the 14 books that made it onto the shortlists this year 10 are by women, which is unprecedented in the history of the CWP, Africa Region.
Given the exceptional depth and variety of books submitted for the prize, it is not possible to reflect at length about every single highpoint. However, there are a few interesting trends about which the panel of judges would wish to comment. These broad trends can be seen in the thematic content of the books, elements of interesting formal innovation and also areas of glaring problems.
One of the remarkable aspects of the entries was the high number that concentrated on human trafficking and migration. The most striking of such novels were Eyo by Abidemi Sanusi (Nigeria), On Black Sisters’ Street by Chika Unigwe (Nigeria) and Refuge by Andrew Brown (South Africa). Reading these entries, the panel of judges was struck by the way slavery, in new guises, has come to speak powerfully of the plight of a generation of Africans who have come of age at a time of destitution, political repression and out-migration—a time when home is all too often quite unhomely. Yet, in spite of the harrowing experiences presented in these novels, none of them resort to the neat endings that readers may expect after being shown so much suffering.
“I am the chosen of the Gods. I have always known that. This knowledge has been the source of my strength and power, and it is the reason why I know that those who now seek my death and desire to usurp my throne shall not succeed.” Marié Heese breathes literary life into the bare historical bones of ancient Egypt’s female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, with breathtaking success. She recuperates ancient Egypt for contemporary gender politics while also providing a highly imaginative account of how life may have been lived in the ancient world. A female leader who realizes her political ambitions in a male world, constantly confronting the challenges of wielding state power at an enormous personal cost, Hatshepsut provides a wonderful protagonist for a modern feminist readership. Hatshepsut’s voice is compelling, direct, insistent and totally believable.
I Do Not Come to You by Chance
“I do not come to you by chance. Upon my quest for a trusted and reliable foreign businessman or company, I was given your contact by the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry ….” There are few e-mail users around the world who have not received a ‘419’ letter promising them a large share of an equally obscene amount of money. We have all wondered about the people behind these scams. Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s novel provides some of the answers. Taking its title from the opening line of an e-mail scam letter, I Do Not Come to You by Chance provides a behind-the-scenes look at the 419 phenomenon, which takes its name from the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code which deals with advance-fee fraud.
You can read the first chapter of Heese’s The Double Crown via the Little White Bakkie preview service below (click here if it doesn’t load). Nwaubani’s UK publisher, Orion, has made chapter twelve of her book available online: click here to read an excerpt from I Do Not Come to You by Chance.
Heese has also compiled “reading notes” on her novel; take a look:
Congratulations to both winners, who now go on to compete with other regional winners for the overall “Best Book” and “Best First Book” awards, to be announced at a ceremony held in Dehli, India, just a few weeks from now.
The South African Wine Writers Award, awarded in May each year at the Franschhoek Literary Festival, celebrates the art of wine journalism. Entries for this award are now open:
Entries for the 2nd Annual South African Wine Writers Award close on March 26.
The Franschhoek Wine Valley Tourist Association (FWVTA) will be awarding the 2nd Annual South African Wine Writers Award at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in May this year.
This award was initiated in 2009 as an acknowledgement to the art of wine writing in South Africa, and the R25 000 prize was won last year by Joanne Gibson, deputy editor of WINE magazine.
Die Universiteit van Stellenbosch se Woordfees is vanjaar 11 jaar oud. Ter viering van die verjaarsdag is verskeie skole en skrywers vereer vir hul bydrae tot Afrikaans. Karin Brynard (outeur van Plaasmoord) en Bettina Wyngaard (outeur van Troos vir die Gebrokenes) deel die prys vir debuut-teksskrywer. Lees verder vir ander pryswenners.
Die Universiteit van Stellenbosch se Woordfees het vir die eerste keer in sy 11-jarige bestaan woord- en visuele kunstenaars vereer.
Die WOORDtroFEES is gister, op die laaste dag van die fees, in samewerking met die ATKV toegeken.
Die prys Woorde Open Wêrelde (WOW) vir ’n skool se uitsonderlike bydrae tot Afrikaans het aan die Sekondêre Skool Schoonspruit gegaan en die individuele prys aan me. Mary Wanda.
Die eerste prys vir ’n drama is toegeken aan As Die Broek Pas. Dié werk is deur Willem Anker vertaal. Marthinus Basson het die regie en ontwerp gedoen en Antoinette Kellermann is in die hoofrol.
Alert! The title story of Petina Gappah’s juggernaut debut collection, An Elegy for Easterly, has been shortlisted for the world’s richest short story prize, the £25 000 UK Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.
Rules in general are restrictive. I am told by creative writing teachers that many would-be writers imitate that great short-story writer, Raymond Carver. This leads to an almost-rule — consider the fact that there are other ways of writing, besides Carver’s.
Read very widely, and all kinds of different authors. The American writer Michael Chabon has made fierce fun of that other traditional piece of shortstory wisdom — that a story should show a single emotion perfectly and end in an epiphany. Chabon said rightly that a piece of short fiction could tell a story, could set out to entertain, could contain a helterskelter of disparate things and happenings, and still be a short story.
Meanwhile, in other matters Sunday Times, but rather closer to home, Gappah has signed with South Africa’s largest English weekly to write a 900 word column once a fortnight, as she tells her fans on her blog:
Finally, for people like Jonathan Masere who missed my Zimbabwe Times column, I am thrilled to say that the Sunday Times South Africa has offered me a column. At over half a million, the Sunday Times has the largest circulation of any weekly newspaper in South Africa, and it also circulates in neighbouring countries including my own Zimbabwe. I have great admiration for editor Mondli Makhanya, and columnists like Justice Malala and Ben Trovato so I am very pleased indeed to be part of the Sunday Times family.
The first column in the series was apparently published yesterday, thought it doesn’t seem to have appeared online at TimesLive yet. We’ll keep a watch out for it – and if any reader should spot the relevant link, please post it as a comment below. Thanks!
Alert! BOOK SA’s busy week will culminate in a frenzied bout of liveblogging on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – and all in the name of keeping you as up to date on matters SA and Africa Lit as possible, gentle reader.
First up, BOOK SA is the official media partner for the announcement of the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Africa region winners, which will take place on Thursday morning. We’ll liveblog the affair direct from the Johannesburg presser, using the hashtag #cwp10africa. Tune in from about 10:45 am – and click here to see who’s shortlisted.
The same day, in the afternoon, we’ll be coming to you live from the launch of the new Exclusive Books web portal, which will take over from www.exclusivebooks.com at a catchy new URL to be named very, very soon. Speakers at the launch will include Pippa Tshabalala, presenter of MNet’s The Verge, Terry Morris of Pan Macmillan, Yoel Kenan of Africori and editor of Stuff magazine Toby Shapshak. Watch for coverage on BOOK SA’s front page from about 3:45pm.
Finally, on Friday and Saturday, BOOK SA will head to Durban for the tail end of the 13th Time of the Writer litfest, where we’ll be tweeting mainly the concluding evening events with #tow10. Of course, you can expect ongoing coverage of the TOW on BOOK SA from its kickoff tomorrow.
Alert! The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) had its annual multilingualism awards banquet late last month, and – well, let’s be honest here, perhaps Your Correspondent is a bit jaded, but the whole thing just seems a little bit tawdry, right down to the press release:
There were ululations and chanting when PanSALB bestowed the Chairman’s Lifetime Award on former State President, Dr Nelson Mandela.
The announcement was made during a star-studded, glittering and ostentatious PanSALB Multilingualism Awards, held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Saturday, 20 February 2010.
“Ostentatious” indeed. (Where are we, back at the NLNG Grant Awards Night?) One of Madiba’s granddaughters accepted the gong on his behalf. The list of the other winners – which goes on a bit, and sees both individuals and institutions in the mix – includes Deon Meyer, who won the Afrikaans category (there’s one award per official language, it would seem – but on the other hand there’s no mention of English, Zulu, Ndebele, Sepedi, Siswati or Xitsonga in the press release, so who knows), receiving R10 000 courtesy Microsoft. Other individual winners received the same amount:
In the language, written and oral literature category the winner for Afrikaans is Deon Meyer, top-selling South African crime thriller author, whose books have been translated into 20 languages. The runners-up are André Brink and Antjie Krog.
In Setswana the winner is the Reverend Dietrich Mascher and the runner-up Thapelo Moraka.
In isiXhosa the joint winners are Professors Peter Mtuze and Mncedisi Jordan. Mtuze was head of African Languages at the University of Rhodes until 2000 and advisor to the African Languages Association.
In Tshivenda the winner is NAPS Publishers and the runners-up are Domina Napoleon Munzhelele and Konanani Muebi.
The winner for Sesotho is playright Thapelo Moraka and the runners-up are Paul Katiso Nkhoesa and Kabelo Duncan Kgatea.
In South African sign language the winner is Francois Deysel of the Deaf Federation of South Africa and the runners-up Philemon Akash and the Sign Language Department.
In Khoi, Nama and San languages the winner is the Khwedam Language Committee and the runner-up Gerhardus Damarah.
Alert!Petina Gappah’s debut collection of shorts stories, An Elegy for Easterly, has been shortlisted for a 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Award – namely, the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
The prize carries a purse of $500 – which seems a bit stingy for a major US newspaper’s award? – and the winner, along with a whole bevy of others, will be announced on Friday, April 23 in Los Angeles.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Good luck to Gappah!
The judges for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize are announced today, Wednesday 3 March, 2010. Chaired by writer, academic and rare-book dealer Dr. Rick Gekoski, this eminent panel consists of publisher, writer and critic, Carmen Callil, and award-winning novelist, Justin Cartwright. Described by the Observer as “an ever more competent alternative to the Nobel”, the Prize has rapidly established itself as a leading accolade in the world literature arena.
Fiammetta Rocco, administrator of the prize, comments:
“The three judges of the 2011 Man Booker International Prize are drawn from the world of letters around the globe. Between them they have a lifetime’s experience as writers, editors, publishers, academics and scholars, as well as readers, and will bring considerable knowledge, enthusiasm and a high standard of excellence to the task before them.”
The Man Booker International Prize recognizes one writer for his or her achievement in fiction. Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.
The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers. Alice Munro won the 2009 prize, Chinua Achebe the 2007 prize and Ismail Kadaré the inaugural prize in 2005. In addition, there is a separate award for translation and, if applicable, the winner can choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of £15,000.
The judges’ list of finalists, approximately fifteen writers under serious consideration for the prize, will be announced in spring 2011. The winner of the next Man Booker International Prize will be announced in early summer 2011. The prize will be presented at an awards ceremony in July 2011.
The prize is sponsored by Man Group plc, which also sponsors the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
The Man Booker International Prize is significantly different from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction in that it highlights one writer’s overall contribution to fiction on the world stage. In seeking out literary excellence the judges consider a writer’s body of work rather than a single novel.
Alert! There are still thirty-and-a-half writing days left to knock a short story into shape for the annual Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Competition, which closes at the end of the month.
The competition bears a structure similar to the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize: regional winners are first chosen (prize: £500) and go on to compete with one another for the top gong, which carries a purse of £2000.
Here’s all the info you need to enter:
The Commonwealth Short Story Competition is an annual scheme to promote new creative writing, funded and administered by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association. Each year around 25 winning and highly commended stories from the different regions of the Commonwealth are recorded on to CDs and broadcast on radio stations across the Commonwealth.
Anyone aged 19 or over who is a citizen of a Commonwealth country can enter, whether a professional or amateur writer. Commonwealth citizens who are 18 or under can enter the Commonwealth Essay Competition.
Stories should be original, unpublished, written in English and no more than 600 words long. Entries will be submitted in plain text via the online application form.
In addition to the first prize and four regional prizes, this year there will be special prizes for the best story for children and the best story concerning Science, Technology and Society, the Commonwealth Day theme for 2010.
There is no entry fee. Only one entry may be submitted per person. This can either be a general entry, or a story on the Commonwealth Day theme, or a story for children.
The South African Wine Writers Award, awarded in May each year at the 
