The 2019 South African Literary Awards shortlists have been announced, with nominees including The JRB regular contributor Wamuwi Mbao, Editor Jennifer Malec and City Editor Niq Mhlongo.
Mbao and Malec have been nominated in the Literary Journalism category, while Mhlongo is nominated for the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award for his collection Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree.
Congratulations to all the nominees!
The winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History in Pretoria on 7 November 2019.
The awards will be preceded by the eighth annual Africa Century International African Writers Conference.
2019 South African Literary Awards shortlists
Category: Children’s Literature Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Lebohang Masango | Mpumi’s Magic Beads | English |
| Jaco Jacobs | Rondomtalie | Afrikaans |
Category: Youth Literature Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Sally Partridge | Mine | English |
| Marion Erskine | Vlerke vir almal | Afrikaans |
Category: K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Bongani Ngqulunga | The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley Ka Isaka Seme | English |
| Rekgotsofetse Chikane | Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation: The Politics Behind #Mustfall Movements | English |
| Lodewyk G du Plessis | Die dao van Daan van der Walt | Afrikaans |
Category: Poetry Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Tony Ullyatt | An Unobtrusive Vice | English |
| Willie van der Merwe | Doodmenslik | Afrikaans |
| Nathan Trantraal | Alles het niet kom wôd | Afrikaans |
| Ayanda Billie | Umhlaba Umanzi | isiXhosa |
Category: K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Chase Rhys | Kinnes | Afrikaans |
Category: Novel Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Charl-Pierre Naudé | Die ongelooflike onskuld van Dirkie Verwey | Afrikaans |
| Sabata-mpho Mokae | Moletlo wa Manong | Setswana |
| Ingrid Winterbach | Die troebel tyd | Afrikaans |
Category: Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Ken Barris | The Life of Worm and Other Misconceptions | English |
| Niq Mhlongo | Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree | English |
Category: Creative Non-Fiction Literary Award
| Author | Book title | Language |
| Sylvia Neame | Imprisoned: The Experience of a Prisoner Under Apartheid | English |
| Jonathan Jansen | As by Fire: The End of the South African University | English |
| Jeremy Vearey | Jeremy vannie Elsies | Afrikaans |
Category: Literary Translator’s Award
| Author | Publications | Language |
| Dominique Botha | Kamphoer to The Camp Whore | Afrikaans to English |
| Michiel Heyns | Buys to Red Dog | Afrikaans to English |
Category: Literary Journalism Award
| Author | Publications | Language |
| Jennifer Malec | Body of work | English |
| Wamuwi Mbao | Body of work | English |
Category: Lifetime Achievement Award
| Author | Publications | Language |
| Louise Smit | Body of work | Afrikaans |
| Cornelius Tennyson Daniel (CTD) Marivate | Body of work | Xitsonga |
Category: Posthumous Literary Award
| To be announced at the awards ceremony |
Category: Chairperson’s Award
| To be announced at the award ceremony |
See also:
- 2017 South African Literary Awards winners announced
- ‘Smaller’: New short fiction from Nick Mulgrew’s forthcoming collection, The First Law of Sadness
- A steady vigil over the slow death of the anti-apartheid dream: Rustum Kozain reviews Kelwyn Sole’s latest poetry collection, Walking, Falling
- ‘I started writing the book in a fit of anger with Fees Must Fall activists’—Rehana Rossouw chats to Jennifer Malec about New Times
- ‘Spending time with Bra Willie is the closest thing to being in touch with the soul of this country’: Read Mandla Langa’s Introduction to Keorapetse Kgositsile’s Homesoil in My Blood
MY NAME IS OUPA NTETA
I AM AN AUTHOR OF NINE SETSWANA NOVELA.
SOME OF MY NOVELS ARE IN MANY LIBRARIES.
I WANT TO BE ONE OF YOUR MEMBERS OF YOUR ORGANISATION, AND BE KNOWN.
HOPING THAT MY PLEA WILL REACH YOUR FAVOURABLE CONSIDERATION.
OUPA NTETA