Finalists for Sunday Times literary prizes

The finalists for this year’s Sunday Times Literary Awards, in association with Porcupine Ridge, were announced at an event in Johannesburg last night. The awards celebrate the best of South African nonfiction and fiction writing over the year. This is the 29th year that the Alan Paton award will be bestowed upon a work of nonfiction. The books shortlisted for the Alan Paton award are: Kingdom, Power, Glory: Mugabe, Zanu and the Quest for Supremacy, 1960-1987 by Stuart Doran (Sithatha Media/Bookstorm); No Longer Whispering to Power: The Story of Thuli Madonsela by Thandeka Gqubule (Jonathan Ball Publishers); Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home by Sisonke Msimang (Jonathan Ball); The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme by Bongani Ngqulunga (Penguin Books); and Colour Me Yellow: Searching for My Family Truth by Thuli Nhlapo (Kwela Books). This is the 18th year of the Barry Ronge Sunday Times Fiction Prize, named after the arts commentator who was one of the founders of the newspaper’s literary awards. The novels shortlisted are: Softness of the Lime by Maxine Case (Umuzi); A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg by Harry Kalmer (Penguin Books); The Third Reel by SJ Naudé (Umuzi); Bird-Monk Seding by Lesego Rampolokeng (Deep South Publishers); and The Camp Whore by Francois Smith, translated by Dominique Botha (Tafelberg). The winners, who will each receive R100 000, will be announced on June 23. See Lifestyle for more.