Sunday Times newspaper has announced the longlists for the Alan Paton Award and the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize.
Founded in 2000, the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize, named after the arts commentator Barry Ronge, honours novels of “rare imagination and style, a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction.”
THE LONGLIST
Babatunde’s Heroic Journey: from Nigeria to Ukraine via Russia
Nape à Motana (Sulis International Press)
Red Dog
Willem Anker (Kwela Books)
Knucklebone
NR Brodie (Pan Macmillan)
A Spy in Time
Imraan Coovadia (Umuzi)
Talion
Beyers de Vos (Penguin Random House)
The Enumerations
Maire Fisher (Umuzi)
Patagonia
Maya Fowler (Umuzi)
All Things Bright and Broken
Carol Gibbs (Jacana Media)
The List
Barry Gilder (Jacana Media)
A Tree for the Birds
Vernon Head (Jacana Media)
The White Room
Craig Higginson (Picador Africa)
An Unquiet Place
Clare Houston (Penguin Random House)
The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in His Head
John Hunt (Umuzi)
The Ones with Purpose
Nozizwe Cynthia Jele (Kwela Books)
The Hum of the Sun
Kirsten Miller (Kwela Books)
Called to Song
Kharnita Mohamed (Kwela Books)
Michael K
Nthikeng Mohlele (Picador Africa)
The Theory of Flight
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (Penguin Random House)
The Broken River Tent
Mphuthumi Ntabeni (Blackbird Books)
The Gold-Diggers
Sue Nyathi (Pan Macmillan)
Too Many Tsunamis
Vincent Pienaar (Penguin Random House)
Under Glass
Claire Robertson (Umuzi)
Parts Unknown
Zirk van den Berg (Kwela Books)
Theo & Flora
Mark Winkler (Umuzi)
The Season of Glass
Rahla Xenopoulos (Umuzi)
“It has been a joy reading most of the books on the Barry Ronge Prize longlist, given the excellence and variety of this year’s crop,” commented the judges: Ken Barris, Nancy Richards, and Wamuwi Mbao. “Children at risk and under fire were beautifully explored in several of the novels, with well-informed treatments of autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and homelessness.
“There were narratives of failed and successful love, and a couple of fascinating magical realist novels. As always, there were journeys into the Apartheid past, with some speaking more directly into the present than others. Two of the novels opened windows into the harsh lives of ordinary people that middle-class citizens tune out so well. One relates the experiences of a family after the AIDS-induced death of a loved one. The other is about a group of undocumented immigrants from Zimbabwe, coming to Johannesburg in search of a better life, focusing on their vulnerability and total absence of protection.
“There was a fair sprinkling of translated works, and genre fiction was also well represented (one spy, two crimes, and one science-fiction and fantasy apiece).
“The judges noted a disappointing cross-section of badly edited work, resulting in repetitive, sometimes disorganised narrative, and overburdened dialogue. We understand that publishers face resource constraints, but felt that this is something requiring more attention. That said, the best of these novels were glorious. It’s in the nature of judgement to exclude as much as select, so difficult choices will have to be made in the end!”
THE JUDGES
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