Sunday Times Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced

The Sunday Times Literary Awards 2025 shortlists were announced in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday, October 5, 2025.

The Sunday Times Literary Awards are awarded annually in fiction (since 1989) and nonfiction (since 2001). Organised by South African newspaper The Sunday Times, it has been won in recent times by Jacob Dlamini and Damon Galgut (2015), Pumla Dineo Gqola and Nkosinathi Sithole (2016), Zakes Mda and Greg Marinovich (2017), Bongani Ngqulunga and Harry Kalmer (2018), Siphiwe Ndlovu and Terry Kurgan (2019), Tshidiso Moletsane and Mignonne Breierwin (2022), Bulelwa Mabasa and CA Davids (2023), and Jonny Steinberg and Andrew Brown (2024).

The 2025 journey kicked off with the announcement of the longlists on Sunday, August 3, before the shortlists were made public on October 5. The shortlisted texts are;

Fiction

Jury: Writer and academic Siphiwo Mahala – Chair, broadcaster and former Sunday Times Books Editor Michele Magwood, and pharmaceutical physician and co-founder of literary podcast The Cheeky Natives Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele.

Fiction chair Siphiwo Mahala said, “The entries in this year’s fiction category of the Sunday Times Literary Awards stand as a testament to South Africa’s burgeoning and vast literary talent. This shortlist comprises an exceptional body of work that is thematically diverse, stylistically explorative and richly textured with lucid prose. The themes explored range from friendships, love, loss, memory, politics and corruption, each rendered with the skill and sophistication of accomplished wordsmiths. Their narratives amplify obscure voices of nonentities, the marginalised and the nameless in society, foregrounding stories and characters that might otherwise fade into oblivion. The depth and craftsmanship of the stories demonstrate a fusion of astute social observation and rigorous research, enlivened by creative flair to produce works that are nuanced, captivating and full of intrigue. These works transcend both time and space, occasionally shifting with seamless fluidity within a single text. They revisit history as a lens through which to read the present, interrogate contemporary challenges rooted in the legacies of the past, and gesture towards speculative futures.”

The fiction shortlist and the jury comments were;

• God’s Pocket, Sven Axelrad, Umuzi – A richly imagined story, set again in his town of Vivo, but with a different cast of characters. Axelrad manages to balance horror with human warmth and courage.
• The Comrade’s Wife: A Novel, Barbara Boswell – A layered portrait of contemporary South Africa, this novel blends love story, political commentary, and human drama. It grapples with themes of love, career ambition, academia, politics and corruption in a sensitive, insightful and deeply imaginative manner.
• Crooked Seeds, Karen Jennings, Karavan Press – From the opening lines, this is a novel that hints at its accomplished nature. A haunting novel set in a too-close-for-comfort arid and crumbling Cape Town in 2028.
• The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil, Shubnum Khan, Pan Macmillan – This intriguing narrative moves fluidly between eras, maintaining a cohesive and seamless flow. It explores identity at the crossroads of culture and experience, illuminating the evolving processes of assimilation and hybrid belonging.
• The Creation of Half-Broken People, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Picador Africa – A masterclass in writing on the interior lives of women. A wonderful meditation on colonialism, feminism and black women’s place in histories untold.

Nonfiction

Jury: Editor and former journalist Kevin Ritchie – Chair, associate professor and researcher at WiSER Hlonipha Mokoena, Langeni is an author and the owner of Book Circle Capital Sewela Langeni,

Nonfiction jury chair Kevin Ritchie said, “The shortlist is a true reflection of what we honestly believe are the best of the non-fiction list of last year. The five cover the gamut of the South African experience; from uncovering the history that shaped the philosophical underpinning of black ideological resistance to colonialism to the lived experiences of those who survived apartheid; one who made it to the very apex of their profession; others who struggle to win back what is rightfully theirs; and one who successfully channelled her experiences into other writing. Finally, there is the decades-long bid to pierce the mystery that continues to cloak one of apartheid’s enduring abominations.”

The shortlisted titles and the judges’ comments were;

• Breaking Bread: A Memoir, Jonathan Jansen, Jonathan Ball Publishers – Deeply honest, lightly written yet profound. The humour, the facts, the pace, the writing – what a great combination.
• Morafe: Person, Family and Nation in Colonial Bechuanaland 1880s-1950s, Khumisho Moguerane, Jacana – An incredible work unpacking the Molema family and in the process helping to explain both Plaatje and the early ANC’s philosophical grounding and the actions they took.
• Love and Fury: A Memoir, Margie Orford, Jonathan Ball Publishers – Absolutely wonderful read by a writer at the peak of her powers. An evisceratingly honest and compelling narrative.
• Hunting the Seven: How The Gugulethu Seven Assassins Were Exposed, Beverly Roos-Muller, Jonathan Ball Publishers – An important and riveting book which tells the story with simplicity and compassion, exposing facts that we continue to grapple with to this day as a nation.
• One Hundred Years of Dispossession: My Family’s Quest to Reclaim Our Land, Lebogang Seale, Jacana Media – Well written, topical and relevant.There is a sense of urgency with the family and the deep disappointment in the lack of progress on this matter. Seale did a great job of bringing something that has become a sound bite, closer to home.