Booknews

ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS: THOMAS PRINGLE AWARDS 2011

The English Academy of Southern Africa is pleased to announce the winners of the Thomas Pringle Awards. The Thomas Pringle Awards recognise writers who have demonstrated extraordinary insights in their work. Two of the three categories run this year have been finalised.

UMUZI WINS AUCTION FOR NEW LAUREN BEUKES NOVEL

Random House Struik is delighted to announce that its Umuzi imprint has acquired the next two novels by star novelist Lauren Beukes.

Umuzi’s bid won a closely contested auction for southern African rights conducted by Beukes’s agent Oliver Munson of Blake Friedmann Literary Agency in London last week.

The rising trajectory of Cape Town-based author Lauren Beukes started with her first futuristic novel Moxyland (2008) and continued with Zoo City (2010), for which she received the internationally prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award.

Effective Internet Writing ~ Facebook hit a trillion page views this month

Google reported that Facebook hit a trillion page views this month. Writing for the Internet is the key to your company’s online success.

“Storytellers will be the heroes of the 21 st century.” ~Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi.

Booksellers' Choice Award winner announced

Alex Smith wins this year’s Booksellers’ Choice Award 2011
Wednesday, 17 August 2011, Woking, UK

Writer, teacher, textile merchant and bookseller, Alex Smith is the winner of this year’s award for: Four Drunk Beauties

Simon Skinner, Sales Director Nielsen BookData, presented Alex Smith with a cheque for Rand 20,000. Nielsen has sponsored the Booksellers’ Choice Award and supported the Sefika Awards for many years. Following the awards presentations, Simon Skinner said: “I was delighted to present the award to Alex Smith and to offer my warm congratulations both to her and to Random House, her publisher. We are proud to support these awards and work with publishers, booksellers and writers to reward writing of a very high calibre. Last year’s winner was John van de Ruit who previously won in 2006 and there has been a string of high profile authors winning this award in the past. We are delighted to be associated with the South African book industry.”

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Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce to be published in the UK

The novel Wall of Days by debut novelist Alastair Bruce, published by Umuzi in 2010, is heading for big things.

It is being released in the United Kingdom this month and will be launched at the Edinburgh Festival on 18 August 2011. The UK publisher, which has acquired world English rights excluding southern Africa, is Clerkenwell Press. This brand new imprint of the prestigious publisher Profile Books (also owners of Serpent’s Tail and The Economist Books) has selected Wall of Days as one of its three launch titles.

Communicate or Face the Consequences

Will the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) be anything like the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)?

The CCMA deals with over 100 000 cases a year. How many will the new Commission deal with?

RHS Creative Writing student gets published

Random House Struik and leading online education company, GetSmarter are pleased to announce that Stanley Kenani has been chosen as the first author to be published under eKhaya, the brand new ebook imprint from Random House Struik. Kenani was a student on the GetSmarter and Random House Struik Creative Writing course, which offers students the opportunity to submit their manuscripts to be considered for publication.

Random House Struik Goes Superdigital

Random House Struik, the leading publisher of general books in South Africa, is thrilled to announce an innovative venture in response to the rapidly advancing new technology in book publishing. Their brand new, ‘straight to digital’ imprint, eKhaya, will take books straight from the edited typescript to an electronic book and then sell this online. eKhaya’s first e-book will be available to readers next month.

Does your child want to write a book in July?

School holidays are looming. Are you scared yet? Imagine teenagers. Bored teenagers. Lying on couches, pilfering wallets, ravaging kitchens. You’re scared now, right? Don’t be. Call us. We have a plan.

We’ll teach them how to write a book. The young adult market is extremely successful. Publishers are looking for writers and stories. The writers are getting younger and younger, and more successful every year.

STRUIK TURNS 50

In August 2008 Random House South Africa and Struik Publishers announced their merger to create a significant new player in the African book publishing industry. The new company, known as Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd, brought together two of the country's most prominent book publishers under the leadership of Managing Director, Stephen Johnson. This year, Struik celebrates its 50-year heritage of its illustrated imprints, Struik Nature, Struik Lifestyle, and Struik Travel & Heritage.