Sunday Times CNA Literary Awards

The Sunday Times CNA Literary Awards are awarded annually to South African writers by the South African weekly newspaper the Sunday Times. They comprise the Sunday Times CNA Literary Award for Non-fiction and the Sunday Times CNA Literary Award for Fiction, and are awarded for full-length non-fiction works and novels, respectively. Both winners receive R100 000.^[1] Ivan Vladislavic is the only person to have won both the fiction and the non-fiction award.

The Sunday Times CNA Non-Fiction Award
Sponsored by	CNA
Country	South Africa
Presented by	Sunday Times
Formerly called	Alan Paton Award
Reward(s)	R100 000
First award	1989; 36 years ago (1989)

The Sunday Times CNA Fiction Award
Sponsored by	CNA
Country	South Africa
Presented by	Sunday Times
Formerly called	Barry Ronge Fiction Prize; Sunday Times Fiction Prize
Reward(s)	R100 000
First award	2001; 24 years ago (2001)

History of the Awards

Originally established in 1989, the Alan Paton Award was conferred annually for meritorious works of non-fiction. It aimed to reward books presenting "the illumination of truthfulness, especially those forms of it that are new, delicate, unfashionable and fly in the face of power," and demonstrating "compassion, elegance of writing, and intellectual and moral integrity."^[2] The award was named for Alan Paton, the famous South African author of Cry, The Beloved Country (1948).

In 2001, a companion award for fiction was established, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize. The criteria stipulate that the winning novel should be one of "rare imagination and style... a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction."^[2] The prize was restructured in 2015 when fiction and non-fiction awards were brought together as the Sunday Times Literary Awards; the money for each prize was increased, from R75 000 to R100 000,^[3] and the Fiction Prize was renamed the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize in honour of Barry Ronge, a renowned South African journalist who was one of the founders of the awards.^[4]

In 2020, there was a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5] However, the awards recommenced in 2021 with a new sponsor, CNA, a South African retail chain of stationery shops, and are now known as the Sunday Times CNA Literary Awards.^[6] This sponsorship arrangement followed the acquisition of CNA from "embattled" parent company Edcon in February 2020.^[6] In 2021, books published between 1 December 2018 and 1 December 2020 were eligible.^[1]

Fiction winners

Works shortlisted for the fiction prize, 2008–2024

Year	Nominee	Work	Result	Ref.
2024	Andrew Brown	The Bitterness of Olives	Won[7]	[8]
	Sven Axelrad	Buried Treasure
	Morabo Morojele	Three Egg Dilemma
	David Ralph Viviers	Mirage
	Jarred Thompson	The Institute for Creative Dying
2023	C. A. Davids	How to Be a Revolutionary	Won|[9][10]	[11][12]
	Andrew Brown	The Heist Men
	Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu	The Quality of Mercy
	Yewande Omotoso	An Unusual Grief
	Mark Winkler	The Errors of Dr Browne
2022	Tshidiso Moletsane	Junx	Won	[13][14]
	Karen Jennings	An Island
	Joanne Joseph	Children of Sugarcane
	Thenjiwe Mswane	All Gomorrahs Are The Same
	Damon Galgut	The Promise
2021	Marguerite Poland	A Sin of Omission	Won	[1][15]
	Dawn Garisch	Breaking Milk
	Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu	The History of Man
	Rešoketšwe Manenzhe	Scatterlings
	Mark Winkler	Due South of Copenhagen
2020	No award due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2019	Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu	The Theory of Flight	Won	[16][17]
	John Hunt	The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in His Head
	Nozizwe Cynthia Jele	The Ones with Purpose
	Claire Robertson	Under Glass
	Mark Winkler	Theo & Flora
2018	Harry Kalmer	A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg	Won	[18][19]
	Maxine Case	Softness of the Lime
	S. J. Naudé	The Third Reel
	Lesego Rampolokeng	Bird-Monk Seding
	Francois Smith	The Camp Whore
2017	Zakes Mda	Little Suns	Won	[20]
	Bronwyn Law-Viljoen	The Printmaker
	Kopano Matlwa	Period Pain
	Yewande Omotoso	The Woman Next Door
	Mark Winkler	The Safest Place You Know
2016	Nkosinathi Sithole	Hunger Eats a Man	Won	[21][22]
	Alastair Bruce	Boy on the Wire
	Craig Higginson	The Dream House
	Claire Robertson	The Magistrate of Gower
	Henrietta Rose-Innes	Green Lion
2015	Damon Galgut	Arctic Summer	Won	[23][24]
	Imraan Coovadia	Tales of the Metric System
	Masande Ntshanga	The Reactive
	Elaine Proctor	The Savage Hour
	Zoë Wicomb	October
2014	Claire Robertson	The Spiral House	Won	[3][25]
	Lauren Beukes	The Shining Girls
	Dominic Botha	False River
	Songeziwe Mahlangu	Penumbra
	Eben Venter	Wolf Wolf
2013	Karen Jayes	For the Mercy of Water	Won	[26][27]
	Imraan Coovadia	The Institute for Taxi Poetry
	Steven Boykey Sidley	Entanglement
	Chris Wadman	The Unlikely Genius of Dr Cuthbert Kamazuma
	James Whyle	The Book of War
2012	Michiel Heyns	Lost Ground	Won	[28][29]
	H.J. Golakai	The Lazarus Effect
	Henrietta Rose-Innes	Nineveh
	Yewande Omotoso	Bom Boy
	Adam Schwartzmann	Eddie Signwriter
2011	Sifiso Mzobe	Young Blood	Won	[30][31]
	Shaida Kazie Ali	Not a Fairy Tale
	James Clelland	Deeper than Colour
	Deon Meyer	Thirteen Hours
	Ivan Vladislavic	Double Negative
2010	Imraan Coovadia	High Low In-between	Won	[32][33]
	J. M. Coetzee	Summertime
	Zinaid Meeran	Saracen at the Gates
	Kgebetli Moele	The Book of the Dead
	Sally-Ann Murray	Small Moving Parts
2009	Anne Landsman	The Rowing Lesson	Won	[34][35]
	Tracey Farren	Whiplash
	Damon Galgut	The Impostor
	Michiel Heyns	Bodies Politic
	Mandla Langa	The Lost Colours of the Chameleon
2008	Ceridwen Dovey	Blood Kin	Won	[36][37]
	Justin Cartwright	The Song Before it is Sung
	J. M. Coetzee	Diary of a Bad Year
	Andrew Gray	The Fence
	Niq Mhlongo	After Tears
2007	Marlene van Niekerk	Agaat (trans. Michiel Heyns)	Won	[38][39][40]
	Imraan Coovadia	Green-Eyed Thieves
	Morabo Morojele	How We Buried Puso
	David Medalie	The Shadow Follows
2006	Andrew Brown	Coldsleep Lullaby	Won	[41][42][43]
	J. M. Coetzee	Slow Man
	André Brink	Praying Mantis
	Russel Brownlee	Garden of the Plagues
	Consuelo Roland	The Good Cemetery Guide
2005	Justin Cartwright	The Promise of Happiness	Won	[41]
2004	Rayda Jacobs	Confessions of a Gambler	Won	[41]
2003	André Brink	The Other Side of Silence	Won	[41]
2002	Ivan Vladislavic	The Restless Supermarket	Won	[41]
2001	Zakes Mda	The Heart of Redness	Won	[41]

Non-fiction winners

Works shortlisted for the non-fiction prize, 2006-2024

Year	Nominee	Work	Result	Ref.
2024	Jonny Steinberg	Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage	Won[44]	[45]
	Eve Fairbanks	The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa’s Racial Reckoning
	Justin Fox	Place: South African Literary Journeys
	Justice Malala	The Plot to Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation
	Caster Semenya	The Race To Be Myself
2023	Bulelwa Mabasa	My Land Obsession: A Memoir	Won[9][10]	[11][12]
	Liz McGregor	Unforgiven: Face to Face with My Father’s Killer
	André Odendaal, with editorial contributions by Albie Sachs	Dear Comrade President: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa’s Constitution
	Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon	The Blinded City: Ten Years in Inner-City Johannesburg
	Songezo Zibi	Manifesto: A New Vision for South Africa
2022	Mignonne Breier	Bloody Sunday: The Nun, The Defiance Campaign and South Africa's Secret Massacre	Won	[13][14]
	Tembeka Ngcukaitobi	Land Matters: South Africa's Failed Land Reforms and the Road Ahead
	Imraan Coovadia	The Poisoners: On South Africa's Toxic Past
	Thula Simpson	History of South Africa: From 1902 to the Present
	Johnny Clegg	Scatterling of Africa: My Early Years
2021	Andrew Harding	These Are Not Gentle People	Won	[1][15]
	Jacob Dlamini	Safari Nation: A Social History of the Kruger National Park
	Mark Gevisser	The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers
	Pieter-Louis Myburgh	Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture
	Telita Snyckers	Dirty Tobacco: Spies, Lies and Mega-Profits
2020	No award due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2019	Terry Kurgan	Everyone is Present: Essays on Photography, Family and Memory	Won	[16][17]
	Anneliese Burgess	Heist! South Africa’s Cash-in-Transit Epidemic Uncovered
	Panashe Chigumadzi	These Bones Will Rise Again
	Rekgotsofetse Chikane	Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation: The Politics Behind the #MustFall Movements
	Sylvia Neame	Imprisoned: The Experience of a Prisoner Under Apartheid
2018	Bongani Ngqulunga	The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme	Won	[18][46]
	Stuart Doran	Kingdom, Power, Glory: Mugabe, Zanu and the Quest for Supremacy (1960–87),
	Thandeka Gqubule	No Longer Whispering to Power: The Story of Thuli Madonsela
	Sisonke Msimang	Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home
	Thuli Nhlapo	Colour Me Yellow: Searching for My Family Truth
2017	Greg Marinovich	Murder at Small Koppie: The Real Story of the Marikana Massacre	Won	[20]
	Sean Christie	Under Nelson Mandela Boulevard: Life Among the Stowaways
	Christa Kulijan	Darwin's Hunch: Science, Race, and the Search for Human Origins
	Dikgang Moseneke	My Own Liberator: A Memoir
	Steven Robins	Letters of Stone: From Nazi Germany to South Africa
2016	Pumla Dineo Gqola	Rape: A South African Nightmare	Won	[21][47]
	David Attwell	J.M. Coetzee and the Life of Writing
	Maxine Case	Papwa: Golf's Lost Legend
	Khaya Dlanga	To Quote Myself: A Memoir
	Charles van Onselen	Showdown at the Red Lion
2015	Jacob Dlamini	Askari: A Story of Collaboration and Betrayal in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle	Won	[23][48]
	Mark Gevisser	Lost and Found in Johannesburg
	Lindie Koorts	DF Malan and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism
	Maria Phalime	Postmortem: The Doctor Who Walked Away
	Jonny Steinberg	A Man of Good Hope
2014	Max du Preez	A Rumour of Spring: South Africa after 20 Years of Democracy	Won	[3][49]
	Vusi Pikoli and Mandy Wiener	My Second Initiation: The Memoir of Vusi Pikoli
	Karen Schoeman	Portrait of a Slave Society: The Cape of Good Hope 1717 – 1795
	Elizabeth van Heyningen	The Concentration Camps of the Anglo-Boer War: A Social History
	Shaun Viljoen	Richard Rive: a Partial Biography
2013	Redi Tlhabi	Endings and Beginnings: A Story of Healing	Won	[50][51]
	Julian Rademayer	Killing for Profit
	Jacques Pauw	Rat Roads: One Man’s Incredible Journey
	Xolela Mangcu	Biko: A Biography
	Hermann Giliomee	The Last Afrikaner Leaders
2012	Hugh Lewin	Stones Against the Mirror: Friendship in the Time of the South African Struggle	Won	[52][53]
	Jonny Steinberg	Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York
	Anton Harber	Diepsloot
	Mandy Wiener	Killing Kebble
	Andrew Feinstein	The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade
	McIntosh Polela	My Father, My Monster
2011	Ronnie Kasrils	The Unlikely Secret Agent	Won	[54][53]
	Adriaan Basson	Finish and Klaar: Selebi’s Fall from Interpol to the Underworld
	David Klatzow and Sylvia Walker	Steeped in Blood: The Life and Times of a Forensic Scientist
	Jay Naidoo	Fighting for Justice
	Bill Nasson	The War for South Africa: The Anglo-Boer War: 1899-1902
2010	Albie Sachs	The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law	Won	[32][33]
	Kevin Bloom	Ways of Staying
	André Brink	A Fork in the Road
	Antjie Krog	Begging to be Black
	James Ngculu	The Honour to Serve: Recollections of an Umkhonto Soldier
2009	Peter Harris	In a Different Time	Won	[55][35]
	Andrew Brown	Street Blues: The Experiences of a Reluctant Policeman
	Pippa Green	Choice, Not Fate: The Life and Times of Trevor Manuel
	Ahmed Kathrada with Tim Couzens	A Simple Freedom
	Peter Harris	In a Different Time: The Inside Story of the Delmas Four
2008	Mark Gevisser	Thabo Mbeki – The Dream Deferred	Won	[56][36][57]
	George Bizos	Odyssey to Freedom
	Charles van Onselen	The Fox and the Flies
2007	Ivan Vladislavic	Portrait with Keys	Won	[58][59]
	Glynis Clacherty	The Suitcase Stories
	John Allen	Rabble-Rouser for Peace
	Fred Khumalo	Touch My Blood
	Denis Hirson	White Scars
2006	Edwin Cameron	Witness to AIDS	Won	[41][43]
	Adam Levin	AidSafari	Won
	Antony Altbeker	The Dirty Work of Democracy: A Year on the Streets with the Saps
	Ronald Suresh Roberts	No Cold Kitchen: A Biography of Nadine Gordimer
	William N. Zulu	Spring Will Come
2005	Jonny Steinberg	The Number: One Man's Search for Identity in the Cape Underworld and Prison Gangs	Won	[41]
2004	Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela	A Human Being Died That Night	Won	[41]
2003	Jonny Steinberg	Midlands	Won	[41]
2002	Jonathan Kaplan	The Dressing Station: A Surgeon's Chronicle of War and Medicine	Won	[41]
2001	Henk van Woerden	A Mouthful of Glass	Won	[41]
2000	Anthony Sampson	Mandela: The Authorised Biography	Won	[41]
1999	Antjie Krog	Country of My Skull	Won	[41]
	Stephen Clingman	Bram Fischer: Afrikaner Revolutionary	Won
1998	John Reader	Africa: A Biography of a Continent	Won	[41]
1997	Charles van Onselen	The Seed is Mine	Won	[41]
1996	Margaret McCord	The Calling of Katie Makanya	Won	[41]
1995	Nelson Mandela	Long Walk to Freedom	Won	[41]
1994	Breyten Breytenbach	Return to Paradise	Won	[41]
1993	Tim Couzens	Tramp Royal	Won	[41]
1992	Thomas Pakenham	Scramble for Africa	Won	[41]
1991	Albie Sachs	Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter	Won	[41]
1990	Jeff Peires	The Dead Will Arise	Won	[41]
1989	Marq de Villiers	White Tribe Dreaming	Won	[41]