The award was founded in 2005 by the wRite associates and the Department of Arts and Culture, to celebrate literary excellence in all the languages of South Africa.
This year’s winners, announced this weekend at the Tshwane Events Centre are:
- First Time Published Author Award: Carol Campbell, My Children Have Faces
- K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award: Zukiswa Wanner, London – Cape Town – Joburg
- Literary Translators Award: Karen Press, Mede-wete and Synapse
- Poetry Award (the award shared by all three nominees)
- Charl-Pierre Naude (Afrikaans), Al die lifelike dade
- Mangaliso Buzani (isiXhosa), Ndisabhala Imibongo
- Bishop MT Makobe (Sepedi), Tsa Ngweding wa Letopanta
- Creative Non-Fiction Award: Edwin Cameron, Justice: A Personal Account
- Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award: Abraham H de Vries (Afrikaans), Maar wie snoei die rose in die nag?
- Literary Posthumous Awards: RRR Dhlomo and HIE Dhlomo
- Lifetime Achievement Literary Awards: Antjie Krog (Afrikaans) and Achmat Dangor (English)
- Literary Journalism Award: Michele Magwood (English)