The shortlists for the Sunday Times Literary Awards were announced on 4 June at a cocktail party attended by a number of nominated authors, publishers and other participants in the literary world. With top prizes of R 75 000 each for the Alan Paton Award for Non-fiction and the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the Awards are fiercely contested, with entries representative of the finest writing talent in South Africa.

The shortlist is the culmination of a marathon four month reading session by the judges who were drawn from a cross-section of disciplines and include authors, critics, academics, and booksellers. This year the judges for the Alan Paton Award are bookseller Ann Donald; academic Jonathan Jansen; Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, the Director of the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP) at the University of the Witwatersrand; publisher Colin Bower; and Heidi Holland, author of Dinner with Mugabe.

An equally eminent panel of judges assessed the entries for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize. They include proprietor of the Boekehuis, Corina van der Spoel; Rehana Roussouw, executive editor of The Weekender; Dr Harry Garuba, Associate Professor of English and African Studies at UCT; and authors Johnny Masilela and Diane Awerbuck.

There were 32 books submitted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, and 40 for the Alan Paton Award. Five titles were shortlisted for the Fiction Prize, while only three titles were shortlisted for this year’s Alan Paton Award.

The shortlisted titles are:

*Sunday Times Fiction Prize:
1. The Song Before it is Sung by Justin Cartwright, published by Bloomsbury.
2. Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee, published by Secker & Warburg.
3. Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey , published by Penguin SA.
4. The Fence by Andrew Gray, published by Human & Rousseau.
5. After Tears by Niq Mhlongo, published by Kwela Books.

*Alan Paton Award for Non-Fiction:
1. Odyssey to Freedom by George Bizos, published by Umuzi.
2. Thabo Mbeki - The Dream Deferred by Mark Gevisser, published by Jonathan Ball Publishers.
3. The Fox and the Flies by Charles van Onselen, published by Jonathan Cape.

Tymon Smith, Books Editor of The Sunday Times and the convener of the Sunday Times Literary Awards judging panels, said that the 32 Fiction Prize entries:" Reflect the dynamism and development of a strong literary landscape that is encouraging and exciting in its range and expression, and which continues to put South African literature on the global map."

However, he added that with respect to the Alan Paton Award, "The judges were frustrated by the number of books entered that fell below the criteria, and urged publishers to consider these more carefully before submitting their nominations for the prize. The judges for the Alan Paton Award were only able to shortlist three books, pointing to poor editing practices and a general lack of attention given to many titles, which could have benefitted from further revision. There was a strong feeling that many of the books were done an injustice by the poor quality of writing, editing and proofreading".

For more information on the Sunday Times Literary Awards 2008, click here.