2016 Sunday Times Literary Awards winners announced

Pumla Dineo Gqola received the Alan Paton Award for her book Rape: A South African Nightmare, published by MF Books. Advocate Thuli Madonsela was the guest speaker at the awards celebration.

The fiction prize judging panel was chaired by Rustum Kozain, a former recipient of the Olive Schreiner Prize, the Ingrid Jonker Prize and the Herman Charles Bosman Award for literature. Other members of the panel included novelist Angela Makholwa-Moabelo and publisher Stephen Johnson.

Of Hunger Eats a Man, Kozain says, “This is something entirely new in South African literature, in terms of its language and style. The writing is exceptional in the way it bends English to its own purpose. It’s a beautiful, disturbing, highly original novel with touches of unexpected humour.” The story is set in KwaZulu Natal and highlights the plight of many rural South Africans.

The Alan Paton non-fiction judging panel was chaired by playwright, poet, novelist and political activist Achmat Dangor, supported by judges Tinyiko Maluleke and Pippa Green.

In Rape: A South African Nightmare, Pumla Dineo Gqola investigates the history and root causes of the epidemic of sexual violence in the country. “This is a fearless book that speaks a powerful truth of our times. Nuanced and cogently argued, it tackles the subject from every possible aspect in an attempt to deal with the unspoken,” says Dangor.

Apart from receiving the prestigious Sunday Times Literary Awards accolades, each author is also awarded prize money of R100,000.