The SA Books Awards Ceremony for 2023 took place virtually on Tuesday, 3 October. Powered by Nielsen Book, and supported by PASA and SABA, the SA Book Awards celebrates books written and published in South Africa, voted for by South African booksellers.
We are extremely happy to announce that our favourite adventurer, Riaan Manser (along with Murray Williams and Chantal Tarling, with illustrations by Martinus van Tee), won the Children's Titles category. To top it all off, the book was also announced as the overall winner, which means that My First African Adventure received the most bookseller votes from the entire longlist.
In My First African Adventure, Riaan Manser allows the reader to relive the toil, excitement and occasional terror of his journey - negotiating the Sahara and Libyan deserts, learning French, Portuguese and Arabic, eating monkey, rat and bat, standing in front of the pyramids, being awarded the freedom of the Red Sea in Egypt, feeding hyenas mouth to mouth, and standing on the highest, as well as at the lowest, points in Africa. Riaan arrived safely in Cape Town on 25 November 2005. Now, for the first time, children can relive this amazing journey of discovery in a fun, illustrated version of the original journey.
Also stepping up to claim her well-deserved award in the Fiction category was Sally Andrew for her Tannie Maria novel, The Milk Tart Murders. When Oom Frik dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene. When a second body turns up, there’s a clue: a letter addressed to Tannie Maria asking for advice – and a milk tart recipe. Fifty-plus agony aunt Maria and feisty young journalist Jessie conduct their own treasure hunt and murder investigation. The police are looking for the perpetrator too, but the amateur detectives have unique skills, and Tannie Maria’s food is a powerful incentive to get people to talk.
READ AN EXTRACT FROM The Milk Tart Murders >>
Antjie Krog’s Vetplantfeetjies, with illustrations by Fiona Moodie, and The Wildest Dog and other African Tales by Avril van der Merwe, with illustrations by Heidi-Kate Greeff, also made the shortlist.
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Our Books on the 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards Longlist