Tlhabi wins Alan Paton award
Talkshow host Redi Tlhabi wins with her autobiography
TALKSHOW host Redi Tlhabi won the prestigious Alan Paton award at last night’s Sunday Times Literary Awards in Sandton for her debut work,
Endings and Beginnings.
The prize for best fiction went to Karen Jayes for her dystopian novel, For the Mer
cy of Water.
Celebrated author Nadine Gordimer received the lifetime achiever award.
Tlhabi’s book tells the tale of her friendship and bond with a rumoured gangster, murderer and rapist when she was only 11.
The judges said her book was an important contribution to South Africans’ collective understanding of the high levels of rape, murder, gangsterism and other forms of violence in the country.
Jayes’s book is set against the backdrop of a severe water crisis and drought, when water has been privatised. The judges said she shifted the usual parameters of postapartheid writing by introducing the fight for water as the central theme and by refusing to mark her characters racially.
NADINE Gordimer was honoured last night with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Sunday Times Literary Awards in Sandton.
The 24th literary awards, in association with CNA, paid tribute to the Nobel laureate and the impact of her work on South Africa’s political landscape.
The Alan Paton award for nonfiction went to talkshow host and Sunday Times columnist Redi Tlhabi for Endings and Beginnings, and Karen Jayes won the fiction prize for her futuristic novel For the Mercy of Water .
Gordimer, who was active in the liberation struggle, has written 15 novels and 10 collections of short stories that have received international acclaim. Three of her novels were banned under apartheid.
Her book The Conservationist was the joint winner of the 1974 Booker Prize.
Sunday Times editor Phylicia Oppelt said the author, “through her magnificent epic writing has — in the words of Alfred Nobel — been of very great benefit to humanity”.
Gordimer’s friend, musician Vusi Mahlasela, gave a surprise performance at the gathering.
In his keynote address, Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron spoke about the importance of South Africa’s constitution. Despite problems such as corruption and econom- ic inequalities, it “is still our best practical hope”, he said.
The former human rights lawyer was an outspoken critic of former president Thabo Mbeki’s Aids-denialism policies.
The justice wrote the prize- winning memoir, Witness to AIDS, which has been published in South Africa, the UK and US and translated into German and Chinese.
Cameron said: “All the constitution does is to create the practical structures that enable the rest of us — that is, you and me, together with principled leadership, a committed government, an active citizenry and vigorous civil-society institutions — to perfect our future.”
Although sceptics had valid criticisms of the constitution, he would continue to argue that it remained South Africa’s best path. “The constitution is not just a document of high aspiration and idealism. It is a practicable, workable charter. And it had proved itself modestly but practically effective as a basis for the democratic exercise of power in our half-broken country.”
Cameron said his “upbeat assessment” of the constitution was rooted in its power to protect, govern and deliver justice for all citizens.
“After 19 years, we have much about which we should feel disquiet and dismay. But we also have much about which we can feel at least a small measure of tentative pride,” he said.
This included the loudest and most diverse media in Africa.
“The constitution exists not only for high dreams and good times. It is there also for the moments of dismay and sobriety,” Cameron said.
“That is not a bad achievement for our first two decades. It is certainly one that has a claim to our fierce commitment.” ýWatch a video of the event on timeslive.co.za