SA writers make Commonwealth shortlist

Staff reporter
18 February 2007

Four South African writers have been short-listed in the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ awards.

Shaun Johnson’s The Native Commissioner (Penguin), Ken Barris’s What Kind of Child (Kwela), Zoe Wicomb’s Playing in the Light and Ronnie Governder’s Song of the Atman (Jacan) are all contenders for the best book prize in the African section.

The awards seek to reward outstanding literary talent in many parts of the Commonwealth, and makes a significant contribution to contemporary writing in English.

South Africans also feature on the shortlist for best book.

The books are from Maxime Case, with his book All We Have Left Unsaid, Kgebeti Moele’s Room 207 (Kwela), Gerald Kraak’s Ice in the Lungs (Jacana), Louis Greenberg’s The Beggar’s Signwriter (Umuzi) and David Medalie’s The Shadow Follows (Picador).

According to the Commonwealth Foundation, the objectives of the prize are to promote new voices, reward achievement, encourage wider readership and greater literacy, thereby increasing appreciation of different cultures and building understanding between cultures

The winner of the 21st Commonwealth Writers' Prize will be announced on 27 May 2007 at the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica.