The ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Awards are awarded annually to South African writers by the South African weekly newspaper the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. 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.Marguerite Poland and Andrew Harding win the 2021 Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards"
/ref>

Ivan Vladislavic Ivan Vladislavić (born 17 September 1957) is a South African author, editor and professor. Vladislavić's style has been described as postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhet ...

is the only person to have won both the fiction and the non-fiction award.

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."2019 Sunday Times Literary Awards longlists announced
/ref> The award was named for

Alan Paton Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' and '' Too Late the Phalarope''. Family Paton was born in Pietermaritzbu ...

, the famous South African author of '' Cry, The Beloved Country''. 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." 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, and the Fiction Prize was renamed the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize in honour of

Barry Ronge Barry Johann Ronge (30 December 1947 – 3 July 2022) was a South African journalist, columnist, writer, broadcaster, movie reviewer and raconteur. He was one of the country's best-known movie critics as well as one of its most widely read (and ...

, a renowned South African journalist who was one of the founders of the awards. In 2020, there was a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.‘How good it is for the species that we still care about books’"
/ref> 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.Submissions for 2021 Sunday Times CNA Literary Awards now open"
/ref> This sponsorship arrangement followed the acquisition of CNA from "embattled" parent company Edcon in February 2020. In 2021, books published between 1 December 2018 and 1 December 2020 were eligible.

Fiction winners

Non-fiction winners

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday Times CNA Literary Awards South African literary awards Fiction awards Non-fiction literary awards Awards established in 2001 Awards established in 1989 2001 establishments in South Africa 1989 establishments in South Africa