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You are Invited to the South African Book Awards – 2023 to be hosted online on Tuesday, 3 October @ 12pm (South African Time).

These annual Book Awards recognize books that are popular with Booksellers and the public, and celebrate the creativity and skills of Authors, Publishers, and their support teams, who came together in the past year to entertain, educate, and inform us.

South Africa has a rich literary history, including 2 Nobel prizes for Literature. We encourage everyone  to read more, support our Authors and Publishers, and buy these and and books from their local Bookstores.

After a process of selection and voting the following have been shortlisted in the 4 categories below:

Fiction

> Doolhof by Rudie van Rensburg

> Mercy by Jackie Phamotse

> The End by Dudu Busani-Dube

> The Milk Tart Murders by Sally Andrew

Non-Fiction

> Faf: Through Fire by Faf du Plessis with Marco Botha

> Our Poisoned Land by Jacques Pauw

> The ANC Billionaires by Pieter du Toit

> The South African Air Fryer Cookbook by Louisa Holst

Children’s Books

> Donker Web by Fanie Viljoen

> My First African Adventure by Riaan Manser & Murray Williams

> The Wildest Dog and Other African Tales by Avril Van der Merwe

> Vetplantfeetjies by Antjie Krog and Ingrid de Kok

For more information:

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @nielsenbook

Visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SABookAwards

Or send us an email: marketing.book@nielseniq.com

RSVP to get the link to the Awards by emailing: marketing.book@nielsenip.com

Tan Twan Eng splits his time between Malaysia and South Africa. He came to SA to study for a Master’s degree in law at the University of Cape Town.

South Africa has a long and rich literary history. We need to protect and preserve it. The Copyright Amendment Bill threatens authors livelihoods by removing protections and placing minimal consequences for those who steal their intellectual and creative property.

Copyright Infringement is not a victimless crime. It is not the paper and ink you are paying for, but the “10 years” it takes to research, write, review, edit, and the lifetime before that developing the skills and art to tell a story in words.

‘Books need time’: Tan Twan Eng’s new novel opens door on history https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/23/books-need-time-tan-twan-engs-new-novel-opens-door-on-history

CONVERSATIONS
Tan Twan Eng on the ‘small human events’ that shape his powerful novels
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-09-30-tan-twan-eng-on-the-small-human-events-that-shape-his-powerful-novels/

Shared by the South African Booksellers Association in the interest of promoting reading and protecting Authors rights.

The South African Booksellers Association would like to extend its condolences on the passing of Mr Hargraves to his wife Maureen, son Richard and the Hargraves family.

The Hargraves have been actively involved in book selling, the Association and specifically the Library Sector for many decades.

At this time we wish the family, their friends and the team at Hargraves Library Services peace, forbearance and patience.

The Library Sector
Vic Lopich

The library situation nationally is somewhat unclear but there are funds allocated to library services. The Conditional Grant has been reduced from R 1.48 billion to R1.17 billion. Provincial and municipal apportionment towards library purchase will be decided at a later time. In general libraries are struggling with creating protocols that enable them to open and begin servicing their communities but the situation continues to unfold.

Provincial libraries in the Free State, Gauteng, Northwest and Limpopo and the Mangaung, eThekwini and City of Joburg libraries are closed.

Some Provincial, Municipal and University libraries that are closed have been responsive to emails as staff are working from home.

There have been several libraries making enquiries regarding purchasing and the creation of supplier databases so although there is not a lot happening right now it would seem that libraries are slowly coming back to life.

The full impact of reduced budgets around the country will only become clear once libraries start to open and staff are back in their offices.

The novel coronavirus has created an almost sci-fi-sounding scenario that books are put in quarantine before being put back on the shelves for other readers …

Shortlist for SA Book Awards 2020 – Children’s Title
(Fiction and Non-Fiction):
Die Groot Jaco Jacobs Storieboek by Jaco Jacobs
Zackie Mostert by Jaco Jacobs
Yes Yanga! by Refiloe Moahloli
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

The Children’s prize was won by previous winner Trevor Noah for the child adaptation of Born a Crime. On accepting his award Trevor said: “Writing a book was a very scary experience but turning the book into a book specifically for kids was even more scary because children have a very short attention span if your book is boring!” He went on to thank all the kids who read the book, the parents who read the book with their children and the teachers who recommended the book to their students.