We are delighted to announce that Musawenkosi Khanyile, Maneo Mohale, and Saaleha Idrees Bamjee have been shortlisted for the 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize, for their respective debut collections, All the Places, Everything Is A Deathly Flower, and Zikr.

The Ingrid Jonker Prize is one of South Africa’s most prestigious literary awards, awarded in alternate years to a first collection of poetry in English or Afrikaans, the two languages in which Jonker herself wrote.

uHlanga authors make up three quarters of this year’s awards shortlist, which is for collections published in 2018 and 2019. The fourth finalist is Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta, whose collection Skeptical Erections was published by our colleagues at Deep South.

According to the rules of the prize the judges have to be published poets, since it is a prize from poets to poets. This year the judges were Vonani Bila, Wendy Woodward and Sindiswa Busuku, winner of the 2018 Prize. Ronel de Goede convenes the Ingrid Jonker Committee. Finuala Dowling is the convenor of the English prize. The other committee members are Vincent Oliphant, Kobus Moolman and Marius Crous. A former chairperson Danie Marais acts as advisor to the committee.

Congratulations to all the writers, as well to as the editors of the collections, Francine Simon (Everything Is A Deathly Flower) and Nick Mulgrew (All the Places and Zikr). The winner will be announced on 13 July 2020, and the winner will receive R10 000.