The 2023 shortlists for the Sunday Times Literary Awards

In partnership with Exclusive Books, the Sunday Times Literary Awards this year mark the 33rd anniversary of the non-fiction award and the 22nd year of the fiction prize. The winners will each receive R100,000.

The non-fiction shortlist reflects the authors’ drive to challenge and examine the failing structures of our nation, with many scrutinising the unkept promises of the past and seeking solutions for a better future. Biographies and memoirs continue to have a heavy presence and prove to be strong contenders again for this year’s award. 

In the fiction category, judges were impressed by the range of stories told as well as encouraged by the fact that writers are exploring and experimenting more with different genres. Literary forms are being challenged, and this year’s shortlist is no exception.

Here is the non-fiction shortlist (in order of the author’s surname):

• My Land Obsession: A Memoir by Bulelwa Mabasa (Picador Africa)
• Unforgiven: Face to Face with my Father's Killer by Liz McGregor (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
• Dear Comrade President: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa’s Constitution by André Odendaal, with editorial contributions by Albie Sachs (Penguin Non-fiction)
• The Blinded City: Ten Years In Inner-City Johannesburg by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon (Picador Africa)
• Manifesto: A New Vision for South Africa by Songezo Zibi (Pan Macmillan)

Here is the fiction shortlist (in order of the author’s surname):

• The Heist Men by Andrew Brown (Penguin Fiction)
• How to be a Revolutionary by CA Davids (Umuzi)
• The Quality of Mercy by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (Penguin Fiction)
• An Unusual Grief by Yewande Omotoso (Jonathan Ball Publishers/Cassava Republic Press)
• The Errors of Dr Browne by Mark Winkler (Penguin Fiction)