The University of Johannesburg Prize (UJ Prize) for South African Writing has announced its shortlists for books published in 2025.
Debut Prize:
Buried in the Chest by Lindani Mbuyunza-Memani
Not This Tender by Sarah Uheida
The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women by Michelle Myeko Kekana
Main Prize:
Griefseed by Malika Lueen Ndlovu
Song of a Slave Girl by Ashraf Kagee
The Nightwatchman: Representing Black Men in Colonial South Africa by Hlonipha Mokoena
The announcement of winners is scheduled for 28 September, while the ceremony will be held on 22 October 2026.
Congratulations to all nominated authors! Special literary hugs to Malika Lueen Ndlovu who published Griefseed with Karavan Press in February last year.
For more information about the shortlists, see: Brittle Paper
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)
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 Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlists have been announced and we are thrilled to share the news that Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings has been shortlisted for the Fiction Prize! Congratulations, Karen and all other nominated authors!
For more details about the announcement, please see here:
The shortlist for the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa — honouring the publishers who bring bold, brilliant African stories to the world — has been announced and we are thrilled that Thobeka Yose’s In Silence My Heart Speaks is among the selected titles. Congratulations to all shortlisted authors and publishers!
Thobeka, literary love and gratitude for the grace, courage and compassion with which you have shared your story with readers!
Meet all five unforgettable books chosen by the judging panel, chaired by Prof. Egara Kabaji:
• ‘No Pink in a Rainbow’ by Angel Patricks Amegbe, published by Masobe Books – A profound meditation on loss and the enduring power of quiet love, beautifully crafted both in prose and in print. • ‘Dear Zimi’ by Chiziterem Chijioke, published by Quramo Publishing – A tender, courageous story of motherhood and resilience, positioning Chijioke as a significant voice in contemporary African literature. • ‘The Comrade’s Wife’ by Barbara Boswell, published by Jacana Media – A bold, emotionally honest narrative that confronts personal and political betrayal in post-apartheid South Africa with feminist clarity. • ‘Broken: Not a Halal Love Story’ by Fatima Bala, published by Masobe Books – A moving exploration of faith, identity, and forbidden love, balancing personal truth with spiritual devotion. • ‘In Silence My Heart Speaks’ by Thobeka Yose, published by Karavan Press – A luminous memoir tackling mental health, abuse, betrayal, and sexual identity with honesty and defiance.
The winner will be revealed at CANEX@IATF2025 in Algiers, Algeria (4–10 September 2025) – the ultimate gathering for Africa’s creative industries.
Whether you’re a reader, writer, or culture lover, these books belong on your list.
We are delighted to announce that Dawn Garisch won SALA‘s Nadine Gordimer Short StoryAward 2024 for her collection, What Remains! This is the second prestigious award for What Remains. It also won the HSS Award for Best Fiction Short Stories earlier this year. Congratulations Dawn and What Remains!
The Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award is one of the South African Literature Awards (SALA). This year, two other Karavan Press titles featured on the SALA shortlists: Sipho Banda’s A Crowded Lonely Walk was nominated for the Poetry Award, and Diane Awerbuck’s Inside your body there are flowers was also nominated for Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award. Congratulations to all nominated writers and books! And thank you, Dawn, Sipho and Diane for your amazing contributions to short story writing and poetry.
The shortlists of the 2024 Sunday Times Literary Awards have been announced today and The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown features on the Fiction Prize shortlist.
Fiction Prize Criteria
The winner should be a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction.
Judges:
Siphiwo Mahala Dr Alma-Nelisha Cele Michele Magwood
CHAIR OF JUDGES SIPHIWO MAHALA SAYS:
The judging panel approached the books entered for this year’s Fiction Prize with a keen interest to delve into a world of the unknown. In turn, we were introduced to a kaleidoscopic array of writing from both the seasoned and emerging writers alike. The result was a pleasantly edifying and exhilarating experience, as reading these novels was embarking on a journey punctuated with diverse themes, surprising and experimental narrative styles and boundless imagery. The wide range of settings, encompassing familiar and unfamiliar locations, bears testament to the universality of our stories and illustrate that our narratives transcend the realist preoccupations with the present moment. These five shortlisted novels, each in its own unique way, represent masterful works of rare, unfettered and powerful imagination.
Here is the fiction shortlist in order of the author’s surname:
Buried Treasure by Sven Axelrad (Umuzi)
The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown (Karavan Press)
The Egg Dilemma by Morabo Morojele (Jacana)
The Institute for Creative Dying by Jarred Thompson (Picador Africa)
Mirage by David Ralph Viviers (Umuzi)
The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown (Karavan Press) Written before the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip on October 7, Brown’s latest novel is set against the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A retired detective in Tel Aviv and Palestinian doctor in Gaza with a shared past, must resolve their differences to investigate a murder. Judges said: A harrowing account of a moment of strife, beautifully told. The author, endowed with vivid imagination coupled with acumen and erudition, deftly immerses the reader in a brutal and bewildering landscape. A wholly sublime narrative, this novel is contemporaneous, daring, complex and aesthetically pleasing.
The shortlisted nominees of the S.A. Literary Awards 2023 have been announced and we are delighted to report that Small Souls by Stephen Symons was shortlisted for the Poetry Award.
“The 34-strong panel of judges of the South African Literary Awards (SALA) spent months rigorously reading, scrutinising, and scoring the over 200 books that answered to the Call for Submissions issued in November 2022. […] The huge number and diversity of books submitted are a testimony to the amazing journey SALA has travelled since the inaugural ceremony held at the Durban International Convention Centre, Kwa-Zulu Natal, on the 5th March 2005, in honour of South Africa’s world-renowned scholar, author, eminent yet unsung poet of majestic epics and literary genius, Prof. Mazisi Kunene.” (SALA)
Announcement of the UJ Prize Shortlists (Debut Prize and Main Prize) for Works Published in 2022
The University of Johannesburg Prize (UJ Prize) for South African Writing is delighted to announce the shortlist for books published in 2022. The UJ Prize opened for submissions on 25 October 2022 and closed on 31 January 2023.
We received a record number of entries this year, and a panel comprised of seven judges considered the submissions. Following a rigorous adjudication process, the judges have shortlisted the following books in the respective categories:
Debut Prize
Boy on the Run (novel) by Welcome Mandla Lishivha
The Other Me (novel) by Joy Watson
Things My Mother Left Me (novel) by Pulane Mpondo
Main Prize
An Angel’s Demise (novel) by Sue Nyathi
Greyheart (poetry) by Lesego Rampolokeng
How to be a Revolutionary (novel) by C.A. Davids
The panel of judges drawn from three different universities around South Africa, selected these six titles out of more than 100 entries. “The overwhelming response to the prize is indicative of the growth and diversity of South African writing,” said Professor Ronit Frenkel, Chairperson of judges and Head of the English Department at the University of Johannesburg.
The final results will be announced on 14 September 2023.
Congratulations, Joy, and all other shortlisted writers!
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