TONIGHT is the biggest in the life of several emerging and established writers who will be honoured through the yearly South African Literary Awards at Gallagher Conference Centre in Midrand, Gauteng.
Winners for 2009 and 2010 will be announced in categories including the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award, Literary Translators Award, Literary Journalism Award, Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award, Literary Lifetime Achievement Award, Posthumous Literary Award, Poetry Award and the First-Time Published Author Award.
Founders wRite Associates say this bold nation-building campaign seeks to pay tribute to South African writers who have distinguished themselves as ground-breaking producers and creators of literature. It also celebrates literary excellence in the depiction and sharing of South Africa's histories, value systems, philosophies and art as inscribed and preserved in all the country's officiallanguages.
Its nation-building partners include the Department of Arts and Culture, the National Arts Council, Nutrend Publishers, SABC, Sowetan, the Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation and the Gauteng department of arts and culture.
Selections are made from published authors whose primary input is in imaginative writing that demonstrates good linguistic presentation, the nation's identity, societal values, universal truths and cultural aesthetics. It must also make a contribution to social cohesion and nation-building.
When he led South Africa in honouring the 2009 batch of nominees in July, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile said in part that: "We expect our writers to tell of our proud history as a people, our extraordinary resilience as a nation, our value systems as well as our triumphs and setbacks.
"We expect of them to use words to change negative perceptions about our country, but they also need to be critical about our society.
"Using the power of words they must continue to depict us as a nation that has managed to overcome adversity - a nation that has risen above its differences and is firmly on track towards building a truly united, democratic, nonracial, non-sexist and prosperous society.
"Through the South African Literary Awards we celebrate the work of our writers and encourage them to do more to preserve our proud literary heritage."
Mashatile said during South Africa's struggle for liberation, writers had contributed immensely to the attainment of freedom.
"Through their works, they exposed the injustices of the past and opened the eyes of the world to the sufferings of the majority of the people of South Africa," Mashatile said.
"Among those writers who fought on the side of the oppressed and used their literary works to seek transformation and change in our country, are some of our literary stalwarts.
"They include poet Mongane Wally Serote, novelist and Freedom Park chief executive, national poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, Nadine Gordimer, the first and only woman Nobel Prize winner for Literature in South Africa."
Describing writers as "those brave sons and daughters of our country", Mashatile said they had "ensured that their pens became a potent weapon in our struggle for national liberation and social emancipation. They became the voice of the voiceless and brought hope to many".
"Most of the works of these and many other writers were banned, forcing them to leave the country of their birth. Many of them, however, refused to be silenced and continued to fight for change. Today we are a free, democratic and open society because of their selflessness and sacrifices.
"We therefore applaud these awards that are aimed at encouraging young, up- and-coming writers to follow in the footsteps of those already honoured. We also encourage those who have been honoured through these awards to continue using their time and works to enrich our country's literary heritage."
The South African Literary Awards programmes include the Miriam Reading and Book Club, honouring the iconic Miriam Tlali; National Poet Laureate Programme led by Kgositsile; and Band of Troubadours, a special collection of essays, poems, short stories and prose by the 47 authors who were honoured between 2005 and 2007.
Among these are Dennis Brutus, Lewis Nkosi, James Matthews, Es'kia Mphahlele, Don Mattera, Mazisi Kunene, Mafika Gwala, Ingoapele Madingoane, Bessie Head andPhaswane Mpe.
Literary giants to be honoured
TONIGHT is the biggest in the life of several emerging and established writers who will be honoured through the yearly South African Literary Awards at Gallagher Conference Centre in Midrand, Gauteng.
Winners for 2009 and 2010 will be announced in categories including the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award, Literary Translators Award, Literary Journalism Award, Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award, Literary Lifetime Achievement Award, Posthumous Literary Award, Poetry Award and the First-Time Published Author Award.
Founders wRite Associates say this bold nation-building campaign seeks to pay tribute to South African writers who have distinguished themselves as ground-breaking producers and creators of literature. It also celebrates literary excellence in the depiction and sharing of South Africa's histories, value systems, philosophies and art as inscribed and preserved in all the country's officiallanguages.
Its nation-building partners include the Department of Arts and Culture, the National Arts Council, Nutrend Publishers, SABC, Sowetan, the Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation and the Gauteng department of arts and culture.
Selections are made from published authors whose primary input is in imaginative writing that demonstrates good linguistic presentation, the nation's identity, societal values, universal truths and cultural aesthetics. It must also make a contribution to social cohesion and nation-building.
When he led South Africa in honouring the 2009 batch of nominees in July, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile said in part that: "We expect our writers to tell of our proud history as a people, our extraordinary resilience as a nation, our value systems as well as our triumphs and setbacks.
"We expect of them to use words to change negative perceptions about our country, but they also need to be critical about our society.
"Using the power of words they must continue to depict us as a nation that has managed to overcome adversity - a nation that has risen above its differences and is firmly on track towards building a truly united, democratic, nonracial, non-sexist and prosperous society.
"Through the South African Literary Awards we celebrate the work of our writers and encourage them to do more to preserve our proud literary heritage."
Mashatile said during South Africa's struggle for liberation, writers had contributed immensely to the attainment of freedom.
"Through their works, they exposed the injustices of the past and opened the eyes of the world to the sufferings of the majority of the people of South Africa," Mashatile said.
"Among those writers who fought on the side of the oppressed and used their literary works to seek transformation and change in our country, are some of our literary stalwarts.
"They include poet Mongane Wally Serote, novelist and Freedom Park chief executive, national poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, Nadine Gordimer, the first and only woman Nobel Prize winner for Literature in South Africa."
Describing writers as "those brave sons and daughters of our country", Mashatile said they had "ensured that their pens became a potent weapon in our struggle for national liberation and social emancipation. They became the voice of the voiceless and brought hope to many".
"Most of the works of these and many other writers were banned, forcing them to leave the country of their birth. Many of them, however, refused to be silenced and continued to fight for change. Today we are a free, democratic and open society because of their selflessness and sacrifices.
"We therefore applaud these awards that are aimed at encouraging young, up- and-coming writers to follow in the footsteps of those already honoured. We also encourage those who have been honoured through these awards to continue using their time and works to enrich our country's literary heritage."
The South African Literary Awards programmes include the Miriam Reading and Book Club, honouring the iconic Miriam Tlali; National Poet Laureate Programme led by Kgositsile; and Band of Troubadours, a special collection of essays, poems, short stories and prose by the 47 authors who were honoured between 2005 and 2007.
Among these are Dennis Brutus, Lewis Nkosi, James Matthews, Es'kia Mphahlele, Don Mattera, Mazisi Kunene, Mafika Gwala, Ingoapele Madingoane, Bessie Head andPhaswane Mpe.
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