The 2026 Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists have been announced earlier today and we are thrilled to share the news that Roger Lucey’s How to Build a House in the Mountains has been shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Award!
Non-Fiction Award Criteria
The illumination of truthfulness, especially those forms of it that are new, delicate, unfashionable and fly in the face of power; compassion; elegance of writing; and intellectual and moral integrity.
Chair of judges Shylock Matsunyane says of How to Build a House in the Mountains: “a prime example of a plain, truthful story that is beautifully written, told and deeply owned by the author.”
Judges say: “A pure pleasure to read. You fall in love with the narration of the story and its humorous descriptiveness.”
Congratulations, Roger, and all shortlisted authors!
Netwerk24 kykNET Rapport Breyten Breytenbach-prys vir digkuns 2026
Wenner: Klara du Plessis vir Ek’t Act (Karavan Press)
Commendatio: Ronelda Kamfer
Klara du Plessis se Ek’t Act verteenwoordig ’n belangrike verskuiwing in die nuwer diaspora-literatuur. Dit breek weg van die sentimentele, voorspelbare gegriefdheid en nostalgie van Suid-Afrikaners wat in die buiteland verlang na ’n idolized verlede wat in werklikheid nooit so bestaan het nie.
Wanneer die beoordelingskriteria vra of ’n bundel die leser met ’n helder stem betower, is die antwoord ja. Dit is egter ’n betowering wat gestroop is van pretensie en goedkoop sentiment. Afrikaans word ontwortel en in ’n vreemde, meertalige konteks geplaas waar dit moet veg vir eie meaning. Die leser word gedwing om die ongemak van verplasing self te ervaar. Du Plessis gebruik taal as ’n argitektoniese materiaal, die wyse waarop Afrikaans, Engels en die stiltes tussenin bots, getuig van ’n deurtastende begrip van die meganika van vertaling en taalkundige hibriditeit. Dit is ’n bundel wat Afrikaans uit sy selfbesorgde isolasie haal en in gesprek plaas met globale debatte. Dit is nie ’n museumstuk nie, maar ’n lewendige, buigsame medium.
Hierdie werk herinner ons aan wat poësie wesenlik behoort te wees. Antjie Krog het eenkeer gesê:
“om te kan skryf moet ek myself binne kom deur my te buite te gaan ek verlaat die daglig die sleur van gefabriseerde stemme en gaan ondergronds”
’n Ingetoë, noodsaaklike proses van selfondersoek en dokumentasie. In ’n era waar die cult van prestasie en verhooggeraas die inherente betekenis van die kunsvorm dikwels overshadow, moet digters kies om die dokumentering van menslike ervaring bo die spektakel te stel.
As digters moet ons leer om terug te staan, die gaze moet uitzoom sodat ons weer stil waarnemers kan word van die wêreld wat ons bewoon. Ons moet krities vra of die literatuur steeds in die regte rigting groei. Want op die mees fundamentele vlak is poësie nie ’n loud performance nie, dit is ’n fluistering, soos die wind, met stil krag wat net gehoor word wanneer ons ophou om te roep.
Klara du Plessis speel met daai stilte en krag. Vir haar moed, tegniese vernuf en visie om Afrikaans sonder om verskoning te maak in die wêreld te herbepaal, behoort die Breytenbach-prys aan haar. Dit is ’n ereloon wat die nalatenskap dra van Breyten Breytenbach, ’n skrywer wie se eie geskiedenis van exile en isolation en internasionale relevansie die verhoog geskep het waarop Afrikaans as ’n wêreldtaal van verset, vryheid en genuanseerde menslikheid kan staan.
The shortlist for the Ingrid Jonker Prize 2026 has been announced and we are thrilled that Shari Daya’s Land | Lines and Lucienne Argent’s Self-Portrait of a Guava have been nominated. Congratulations to the two of them and all other shortlisted poets!
The shortlist for 2026:
Lucienne Argent, Self-Portrait of a Guava (Karavan Press)
Shari Daya, Land | Lines (Karavan Press)
Zeenit Saban-Jacobs, Inside an Eyeball (Botsotso Publishing)
Siphokazi Jonas, Weeping Becomes a River (Penguin)
Frank Meintjies, A Place to Night In (Botsotso Publishing)
We are thrilled to announce that the English Academy of Southern Africa has selected The Algebra of Insignificance by Stephen Symons as the winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize for Poetry 2026.
Congratulations, Stephen! What a wonderful achievement.
The 20th edition of the South African Literary Awards is set to take place on 11 November 2025 at the Roodepoort Theatre and Museum and we are delighted to announce that Nick Clelland’s Good Hope has been shortlisted for the Novel Award. Congratulations, Nick and all other shortlisted authors!
The inaugural AVBOB competition for collections of poetry, now known as The JDL Award for Poetry in memory of the contribution to the Poetry Project by the late Johann de Lange, took place earlier this year. The inaugural prizes (2025) were awarded for collections in Sepedi, isiZulu and English.
All of the 2024 single poem and 2025 collection winners are listed here: Avbob Poetry
The winner of the English collections category was Unleaving by Ingrid de Kok. Three collections were given ‘honourable mention’, among themLand | Lines by Shari Daya, published by Karavan Press. The other two were Night Transit by PR Anderson and The Book of Unrest by Nick Mulgrew.
Congratulations to all!
You can watch a short video of the prize-giving event that shows the prizes being awarded for individual poems (the 2024 annual online competition) and collection of poems competition here: The 2025 JDL Award for Poetry
The JDL Award for Poetry in 2026 will go to collections in Afrikaans, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and Sesotho, and in 2027 to collections in Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.
The next competition in Sepedi, isiZulu and English will be run in 2028.
We are delighted to announce that the SA Book Awards 2025 Adult Fiction Shortlist includes The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown! Congratulations, Andrew, and all other shortlisted authors!
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
SA Book Awards celebrates 25 years by announcing the 2025 Shortlist
This year marks the 25th annual SA Book Awards, powered by NielsenIQ BookData and supported by PASA and SA Booksellers Association. The awards strive to celebrate books written and published in South Africa, as voted for by South African booksellers and last year recognised authors Deon Meyer, André de Ruyter and Zandile Ndhlovu.
Booksellers have voted in their hundreds for their favourite titles in three categories from a longlist of bestselling titles published in South Africa and written by South African authors, as measured by NielsenIQ BookScan South Africa in 2024.
We are delighted to share the shortlisted titles as chosen by booksellers below:
Fiction Prize
A Short Life – Nicky Greenwall
Spud: The Reunion – John van de Ruit
The Bitterness of Olives – Andrew Brown
The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil – Shubnum Khan
The Tea Merchant – Jackie Phamotse
Non–Fiction Prize
Capitec: Stalking Giants – T.J. Strydom
Disciple: Walking with God – Rorisang Thandekiso & Nkhensani Manabe
Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars – Peter Godwin
How Did We Get Here? – Mpoomy Ledwaba
Zapiro Annual 2024: Have I Got GNUs For You – Zapiro
Children’s Prize
Cook–off at Gogo’s Spaza:(Disaster at Gogo’s Spaza 2) – Salamina Mosese, illustrated by Vian Oelofsen
Into the Uncut Grass – Trevor Noah, illustrated by Sabina Hahn
My First South African Animals – Van den Berg
Springboekie – Fanie Viljoen, illustrated by Elsabe Ebersohn
The Speedy Six Olympics – Roslynne Toerien, illustrated by Julie Smith–Belton
Each category winner will be awarded R5,000.00 and the overall winner, receiving the highest number of votes, will be presented with R20,000.00.
This year, to celebrate the 25–year Anniversary of the SA Book Awards we also asked booksellers to vote for their favourite title from the list of previous Overall Winners.
How many ways to say Hello? – Refiloe Moahloli (2021)
Leo – Deon Meyer (2024)
Manage your Money – Sam Beckbessinger (2019)
Recipes for Love and Murder – Sally Andrew (2016)
Spud – John van de Ruit (2006)
The President’s Keeper – Jacques Pauw (2018)
On winning last year’s Fiction and Overall Prize for Leo, Deon Meyer said: “I am deeply honoured and grateful to receive the two awards bestowed by the South African booksellers. This recognition means the world to me, and I extend my heartfelt thanks to the association’s members who have supported my journey as an author over the past thirty years. Their acknowledgment inspires me to keep telling stories that connect and resonate.”
We wish all the shortlisted authors the warmest of congratulations and the very best of luck! The winners will be announced at a virtual ceremony and on social media on Tuesday 23 September 2025. All are welcome to join the ceremony, for more information email: marketing.book@nielseniq.com
To read our special anniversary article: Celebrating 25 years of South African literature, visit: NielsenIQ
Last year was a remarkable year for Karavan Press in all kinds of ways, but specifically in terms of literary awards. Karavan Press authors won five major awards, two of which recognised What Remains by Dawn Garisch. The story collection won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Short Stories and SALA’s Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award in 2024. In order to celebrate this wonderful achievement, we will be relaunching the collection at Exclusive Books Cavendish on Wednesday, 29 January, 5.30 for 6PM. Dawn will be in conversation with Mathapelo Mofokeng. Please join us for the celebration!
Please join us at The Book Lounge for a celebration of Andrew Brown’s The Bitterness of Olives, winner of the 2024 Sunday Times Fiction Prize.
The Book Lounge is where the story of the publication of this novel with Karavan Press began (join us for the celebration to hear the details) and where the book was officially launched in October last year. Since its publications, The Bitterness of Olives has been offering its readers a deeply empathetic insight into a turbulent history that continues to tragically unfold in front of our eyes. Earlier this month, the bestselling novel has been recognised with the prestigious Sunday Times Fiction Prize.
The Sunday Times Fiction Prize judges called it a “contemporaneous, daring, complex and aesthetically pleasing novel”.
It will be a great joy to celebrate this exquisite book and its wonderful author at the bookshop where it all started!
