THE ALAN PATON AWARD
Chair of judges Sylvia Vollenhoven says: “When nations sink into division and despair creativity points to a way forward. The collective power and style of the authors on this year’s shortlist represent the finest artistic vision for the future. Literary flair is coupled with excellent research that takes us into places we need to visit. Exploring recent history a remarkable opus dissects Zimbabwe like no other; the man who founded the ANC is honoured in all his complexity, and we get to know why we owe the former public protector such a debt of gratitude. Balancing the political with the personal, two beautiful memoirs give us insight into the family terrain where our horrors and delights originate.”
Kingdom, Power, Glory: Mugabe, Zanu and the Quest for Supremacy, 1960-1987 Stuart Doran (Sithatha Media/Bookstorm)
The judges voted quickly and unanimously to shortlist this massive book. It is an exhaustive, meticulously detailed history of Zimbabwe’s formative years that draws on previously classified information and throws new light on such events as the Gukurahundi massacres. One judge called it: “Monumentally researched, monumentally annotated and evidenced, and monumentally impressive.”
No Longer Whispering to Power: The Story of Thuli Madonsela Thandeka Gqubule (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
The biography of the former public protector reminds us of the enormous impact she made during her seven years of tenure. Gqubule reveals details of Madonsela’s life, as well as her investigations, findings and their consequences, in what one judge described as “an energetic, passionate whirl of words”.
Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home Sisonke Msimang (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
The judges regarded Msimang’s memoir to be one of the best entries in terms of style. It charts her way from childhood through multiple identities and roles, beginning with her early years in exile in Zambia and Kenya, young adulthood and college years in North America, and returning to South Africa in the 1990s.
The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme Bongani Ngqulunga (Penguin Books)
The panel hailed this biography as an important part of Afrocentric history, an even-handed and scholarly study of a complex man and the conflicting and fluctuating strains of Pan Africanism and Zulu chauvinism. Seme was just 30 when he founded the organisation, but he eventually brought it to its knees.
Colour Me Yellow: Searching For My Family Truth Thuli Nhlapo (Kwela Books)
Shunned by her paternal family while growing up, journalist Thuli Nhlapo embarked on a painful journey to find her “true” identity. The judges were moved by its brutal honesty, finding in her story the roots of so much of the nation’s dysfunction, “a smaller story illuminating a greater picture.”