The longlist for the 2024 South African Literary Awards (SALA) is out! Across the 16 various categories there were 200 pieces and collections submitted, all of which bringing their own strengths to the table. Stay tuned for November 7th, when the winner(s) will be revealed in the exciting annual ceremony!

Founded in 2005 by the wRite associates in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) SALA aims to pay tribute to groundbreaking South African writers and continue to foster the literary landscape by featuring the various histories, cultures, ideologies, and languages of South Africa. To date, the SALA has featured 133 authors across their 16 categories, including works published in the 11 official  South African languages, and continue to expand as one of the most prestigious South African literary awards.

While speaking about the literary award, Morakabe Raks Seakhoa, the Managing Director at wRite associates and SALA’s founder Executive Director, said;

We are pleased with the consistency, growth and maturing of SALA across languages, generational, gender and other social prisms…The past 19 years have seen SALA recognize authors who have since soared higher in their literary careers, leading to them being republished, invitations and participation in literary events at home and abroad, some of their work optioned for movies and theatre stages”.

Some of the longlisted authors include Molebatsi Bosilong, Masilo Junior Ramphadi, and  Adekeye Adebajo, among others.

Across the 16 categories all types of work are featured, such as the The K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award, which recognizes novels and novellas by authors under the age of 40, or the The Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award, which recognizes short story collections by a single author. Beyond that novels, poetry, children’s literature and others are celebrated by the South African Literary Prize.

If you want to see the longlists check out SALA’s website here!