Local writer shortlisted for 2017 Sanlam award

CAPE Town crime writer Joanne Hichens has been shortlisted for the 2017 Sanlam Prize for youth literature in the English category, for Stained.

A delighted Hichens posted on Facebook: “So thrilled to be on the shortlist… Congratulations to all fellow finalists.”

The awards are offered annually to writers in three language categories: English, Afrikaans and African languages.

Other shortlisted authors are former English winner Jayne Bauling of White River, whose novel Dreaming of Light is now a Grade 11 setwork, Nerine Dorman of Cape Town (English), Rianna Scheepers of the Wilderness (Afrikaans), Dumisani Hlatswayo of Johannesburg (Zulu), and Mathete Piet Molope of Pretoria (Sepedi).

The prize was launched in 1980 and is awarded every second year.

This year, Sanlam introduced the “250 words a day campaign” to make the competition more accessible to young and upcoming writers.

Under this, entrants had access to a panel of respected writers on Facebook who acted as writing mentors.

One was author and columnist Page Nick, who said: “The thought of writing a whole book all at once is overwhelming, but breaking it down into chunks makes it much more doable. Congratulations to every writer who finished a piece and submitted it to the competition. It’s a huge achievement.”

Thanks to this initiative, 60 more entries were received this year compared with 2015. English at 55 and Afrikaans at 33 attracted the most entries, but there were also 14 in Zulu, seven each in Xhosa and Venda, five in Xitsonga, four each in Ndebele and Sesotho, three in Setswana and two in Sepedi.

The competition, sponsored by Sanlam and Tafelberg, carries R54 000 in prize money – R12 000 for the winner in each category and R6 000 for the runner-up.

The winners will be announced in October. – Books Editor