Shubnum Khan and Khumisho Moguerane were declared winners of the Sunday Times Literary Awards 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Thursday, December 4, 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 Sunday, October 5. The winners, who were revealed at a ceremony in Johannesburg on Thursday, December 4, 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.
- The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil, Shubnum Khan, Pan Macmillan
Jury comments: “Khan captures the history and lived experiences of South Africa’s Indian community with unparalleled erudition, honesty, and sensitivity.”
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,
- Morafe: Person, Family and Nation in Colonial Bechuanaland 1880s-1950s, Khumisho Moguerane, Jacana
Jury comments: “This book is a historical landmark, a watershed in the shape and direction of African studies.”
Each winner will receive R100,000.
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