Media release:

The University of Johannesburg Prize (UJ Prize) for South African Writing is pleased to announce the shortlist for books published in 2024. The Prize opened for submissions on 26 November 2024 and closed on 28 February 2025.

The UJ Prize was established in 2006 for South African writing and is not genre-specific.

We trust our panel of judges to do a fair and rigorous evaluation of submitted texts and select the most outstanding books. Following an intensive adjudication process, the judges have shortlisted the following books in their respective categories:

Debut Prize

• Morafe: Person, Family and Nation in Colonial Bechuanaland by Khumisho Moguerane
• Weeping Becomes a River by Siphokazi Jonas
• Who Looks Inside by Anna Stroud

Main Prize

• Keorapetse Kgositsile and the Black Arts Movement by Uhuru Portia Phalafala
• The Comrade’s Wife by Barbara Boswell
• The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil by Shubnum Khan

The prize money is R75,000 (Seventy-Five Thousand Rand only) for the main prize, and R45,000 (Forty-Five Thousand Rand only) for the debut prize. The final results will be announced before the end of September 2025. For more information, please contact the UJ Prize coordinator, Prof Siphiwo Mahala via email: siphiwom@uj.ac.za 

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Congratulations to all shortlisted authors, especially to Anna Stroud! We are thrilled that her debut novel, Who Looks Inside, is shortlisted for the UJ Debut Prize.

Earlier this year, Anna won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Emerging Author.

Thank you, Anna, for publishing with Karavan Press. It is a joy to celebrate you and this exquisite novel.