Sunday Times Literary Awards

Sunday Times Literary Awards 2023 longlists announced.

The longlists for the Sunday Times Literary Awards 2023 were announced in Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday, July 16, 2023.

The Sunday Times Literary Prize, organised by South African newspaper The Sunday Times, are titles awarded in fiction and nonfiction. Founded in 1989, it has been won by Siphiwe Ndlovu and Terry Kurgan (2019), Bongani Ngqulunga and Harry Kalmer (2018), Zakes Mda and Greg Marinovich (2017), Pumla Dineo Gqola and Nkosinathi Sithole (2016), Jacob Dlamini and Damon Galgut (2015) and a host of others. Tshidiso Moletsane and Mignonne Breierwin won the award in 2022.

The longlists for the 2023 edition, brought to you in partnership with Exclusive Books, have been announced. They are;

Fiction

Judging panel: Ekow Duker (chair), Kevin Ritchie, and Nomboniso Gasa

  • In The Shadow of the Springs I Saw, Barbara Adair (Modjaji Books)
  • The Heist Men, Andrew Brown (Penguin Fiction)
  • How to be a Revolutionary, CA Davids (Umuzi)
  • Stirring the Pot, Quraisha Dawood (Penguin Fiction)
  • The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers, Finuala Dowling (Kwela)
  • The Dao of Daniel, Lodewyk G du Plessis and translated by Michiel Heyns (Tafelberg)
  • Chasing Marian, Amy Heydenrych, Qarnita Loxton, Pamela Power and Gail Schmillel (Pan Macmillan)
  • Peaches and Smeets, Ashti Juggath (Modjaji Books)
  • Two Tons o’ Fun, Fred Khumalo (Umuzi)
  • Notes on Falling, Bronwyn Law Viljoen (Umuzi)
  • It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way, Alistair Mackay (Kwela)
  • The Daughters of Nandi, Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang (Paivapo)
  • The Second Verse, Onke Mazibuko (Penguin Fiction)
  • Things My Mother Left Me, Pulane Mlilo Mpondo (Blackbird Books)
  • Across the Kala Pani, Shelvyn Mottai (Penguin Fiction)
  • The Quality of Mercy, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (Penguin Fiction)
  • Hammerman: A Walking Shadow, Mike Nicol (Umuzi)
  • An Angel’s Demise, Sue Nyathi (Pan Macmillan)
  • An Unusual Grief, Yewanda Omotoso (Jonathan Ball Publishers/Cassava Republic Press)
  • The Eye of the Beholder, Margie Orford (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
  • In The Midst of it All, Thabile Shange (Kwela)
  • A Dalliance with Destiny, Aman Singh Maharaj (Austin Macauley Fiction)
  • A Library to Flee, Etienne van Heerden and translated by Henrietta Rose-Innes (Tafelberg)
  • Red Tide, Irma Venter and translated by Karin Schimke (Tafelberg)
  • Elton Baatjies, Lester Walbrugh (Karavan Press)
  • The Other Me, Joy Watson (Karavan Press)
  • The Errors of Dr Browne, Mark Winkler (Umuzi)

Nonfiction

Judging Panel: Duma Gqubule (chair), Judy Dlamini, and Julian Rademeyer.

Longlist

  • Clare: The Killing of a Gentle Activist, Christopher Clark (Tafelberg)
  • The Price of Mercy: A Fight for the Right to Die with Dignity, Sean Davison (Melinda Ferguson Books)
  • The ANC Billionaires: Big Capital’s Gambit and the Rise of the Few, Pieter du Toit (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
  • Mr Entertainment: The Life of Taliep Petersen, Paula Fourie (LAPA)
  • My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah: A Memoir, Denis Hirson (Jacana Media)
  • Don’t Upset ooMalume: A Guide to Stepping Up Your Xhosa Game, Mercy Nqandeka Hombakazi (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
  • Too White to be Coloured, Too Coloured to be Black: On the Search for Home and Meaning, Ismail Lagardien (Melinda Ferguson Books)
  • A Desire To Return To The Ruins, Lucas Ledwaba (Blackbird Books)
  • Boy on the Run, Welcome Mandla Lishivha (Jacana Media)
  • My Land Obsession: A Memoir, Bulelwa Mabasa (Picador Africa)
  • Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi: a Biography, Siphiwo Mahala (Wits University Press)
  • A Man, A Fire, A Corpse: The Story of Soweto’s Top Cop, Rofhiwa Maneta (Blackbird Books)
  • The Soft Life: Love, Choice and Modern Dating, Lebohang Masango (Tafelberg)
  • Freedom Writer: My Life and Times, Juby Mayet (Jacana Media)
  • Unforgiven: Face to Face with my Father’s Killer, Liz McGregor (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
  • The Enemy Within: How the ANC Lost the Battle Against Corruption, Mpumelelo Mkhabela (Tafelberg)
  • Letters to My Mother: The Making of a Troublemaker, Kumi Naidoo (Jacana Media)
  • Dear Comrade President: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa’s Constitution, Andre Odendaal and Albie Sachs (Penguin Non-fiction)
  • Our Poisoned Land: Living in the Shadows of Zuma’s Keepers, Jacques Pauw (Tafelberg)
  • The Lost Prince of the ANC: The Life and Times of Jabulani Nobleman “Mzala” Nxumalo Mandla J Radebe (Jacana Media)
  • The Tyranny of Growth: Why Capitalism has Triumphed in the West and Failed in Africa, Malcolm Ray (Melinda Ferguson Books)
  • Apartheid’s Stalingrad: How The Townships Of The Eastern Cape Stood Up To The Apartheid War Machine, Rory Riordan (Jacana Media)
  • Lost on the Map: A Memoir of Colonial Illusions, Bryan Rostron (Bookstorm)
  • Rugby, Resistance and Politics: How Dan Qeqe Helped Shape the History of Port Elizabeth, Buntu Siwisa (Jacana Media)
  • First People: The Lost History of the Khoisa, Andrew Smith (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
  • Now You Know How Mapetla Died: The Story of a Black Consciousness Martyr, Zikhona Valela (Tafelberg)
  • The Unaccountables, Hennie Van Vuuren, Mamello Mosiana, Michael Marchant, Ra’eesa Pather (Jacana Media)
  • Guns and Needles: A Journey into the heart of South African Sport’s Steroid and Drug Culture, Clinton Van den Berg (Zebra)
  • The Blinded City: Ten Years In Inner-City Johannesburg, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon (Picador Africa)
  • Manifesto: A New Vision for South Africa, Songezo Zibi (Pan Macmillan)

Reactions

Fam. The Daughters of Nandi by Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang is part of a wonderful selection of books long-listed for the Sunday Times Literary Awards. I am in heaven. Thank you, Zukiswa Wanner and our Paivapo magical team.

Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang

Delighted 🥳🎉💃🏽to be longlisted on @SundayTimesZA #AnAngelsDemise @PanMacmillanSA Congratulations 👏🏼🥳🎉 to my peers who made it too!

Sue Nyathi

I am SO thrilled to see that my book #MyLandObsession has been longlisted in the Sunday Times Best Non-Fiction category of the prestigious Sunday Times Literary Awards 2023. Gives me so much pleasure to witness an area of my passion in law come to life!

Bulelwa Mabasa

We made it to the @SundayTimesZA Literary Awards Longlist 💕

Lebohang Masango

OH MY GOD! 16 July 1976, Mapetla is arrested. 16 July 2023 the book is on the longlist???

Zikhona Valela

Wonderful to see #TheLostPrince #Mzala in this prestigious awards. Thanks @JacanaMedia 🤙🏿

Mandla J Radebe

Wonderful! “The Enemy Within….”  is right there on the prestigious long list. The Tsonga speaking people are correct: Mintirho Ya Vulavula.

Mpumelelo Mkhabela

The shortlist will be announced later in the year.

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