The judges (André Brink and Michael le Cordeur, with Anastasia de Vries as convener) consider the volume “a collection of stories rich in imagination, intellectual depth and excellent writing that gives testimony to a remarkable talent that one could easily associate with the name and successes of Rabie.”

Steve Connolly, managing director of Random House Struik, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that SJ’s remarkable writing is receiving the recognition it deserves in the wider reading community in South Africa. We believe he is a writer of enormous talent and hope that this prize helps draw even more readers to his work.”

Fourie Botha, managing editor of Umuzi, said: “Alfabet van die Voëls grabbed our imagination from the beginning. It is a riveting, heartbreaking book and the beginning of a great writing career.”

SJ Naudé was born in 1970. He studied in Pretoria and completed master's degrees at Cambridge and Columbia. After years as a lawyer in New York and London, he returned to South Africa for a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Stellenbosch.