SA authors honoured in HSS Awards and longlisted for Island Prize

The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) recently made its awards for 2023. The institute honours "outstanding, innovative and creative contributions" to the human sciences.

The eighth Humanities and Human Sciences (HSS) Awards were given out at a ceremony at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria.

In the fiction category, three novels were honoured: 

• An Angel’s Demiseby Sue Nyathi (Picador)

• In the Company of Menby Angelique Kidjo (Jacana)

• The Veil of Mayaby Chantal Stewart (Minimal Press) 

In the same category, but for short stories, the award went to: 

• White Chalk by Terry Ann Adams (Jacana) 

In the non-fiction category, the following books were honoured: 

• Ausi Told Me: Why Cape Historiographies Matter by June Bam (Jacana)

• Dockside Reading: Hydrocolonialism and the Custom House by Isobel Hofmeyr (Wits University Press)

• Archives of Times Past: Conversations about South Africa’s Deep History edited by Cynthia Kros, John Wright, Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Helen Ludlow (Wits University Press) 

• Mihloti ya Ntsako: Journeys with the Bongi Dhlomo Collection edited by Pfunzo Sidogi (Javett-UP)

• Letters to My Mother: The Making of a Troublemaker by Kumi Naidoo (Jacana) 

A special award was presented to Jacana Media in recognition of the "exceptional role" the publishers play in "redefining the Humanities and Social Sciences landscape in South Africa". Jacana is the publisher with the most titles on the list of winners.

Jacana is also the SA publisher of White Malice: The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa, about the interference of the CIA in the sovereign affairs of African states, which won a Windham-Campbell Prize within the last few days.

Another special award given by the NIHSS, "recognising excellence in Humanities and Social Sciences publications", went to Wits University Press.

News24 was unable to get a formal press release from the NIHSS about the awards, despite attempts by email and by engaging with the NIHSS website’s bot, so the above information has been gathered from Facebook and press releases by some of the publishers.

HSS Awards winners.

The longlist for the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa has been announced. The prize is awarded to manuscripts by debut African novelists.

The longlist is: 

• Bobo Hamham by Aganaba, Jesudubami Jemima (Nigeria)
• The Becoming-Nothing of Bodies by Olubunmi Familoni (Nigeria)
• A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar (Sudan)
• No Poison, No Paradise by Nzeru Aquilar Nsaí (South Africa)
• Braids and Migraines by Andile MaShandu Cele (South Africa)
• Choosing an Outfit for the End of the World by Robyn Perros (South Africa)
• Carrying a Country on Your Forehead by Tanaka Chidora (Zimbabwe)
• Night’s Last Secrets by Felix Otis (Kenya)
• Captured by Immaculate Halla (Tanzania)