Kruiper–Crawler WINS UJ Debut Prize for Afrikaans

A huge congratulations to Shane van der Hoven, whose debut poetry collection, Kruiper–Crawler, has won the 2026 University of Johannesburg Debut Prize for Afrikaans.

Published by uHlanga in 2025, Kruiper–Crawler is the first multilingual collection to win the UJ Debut Prize, and was praised for its play with bilingualism, fresh vernacular, and intimate sensitivity to the contemporary cultural moment.

Moving between Afrikaans and English, discomfort and tenderness, queerness and underground life, Kruiper-Crawler is a risk-taking debut that unsettles literary and linguistic boundaries with rare force.

We are so proud of you, Shane, and so honoured to have published this remarkable book.

Kruiper-Crawler shortlisted for UJ Debut Prize for Afrikaans

We were thrilled to hear that Shane van der Hoven’s Kruiper-Crawler has been shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize for Afrikaans.

In a particularly strong year for poetry, Shane has been shortlisted alongside Jennifer Pape and Klara du Plessis. Congratulations to all shortlisted authors.

The UJ Prizes for Afrikaans are awarded to outstanding texts in any genre that were originally written in Afrikaans and published in the previous calendar year. The UJ Prizes were first awarded in 2001, then as the Rand Afrikaans University Mardene Marais Prize: the result of the initiative and donation of Dr Fanie Marais of the Cordis Trust. Since 2005, with the establishment of the University of Johannesburg, the prizes have been known as the UJ Prizes for Afrikaans.

Announcing Oh, Yes I Can, Cer by Nedine Moonsamy

uHlanga is proud to announce the September 2026 release of the debut collection of poetry by Nedine Moonsamy, Oh, Yes I Can, Cer.

Moonsamy’s brave and brilliant debut collection explores what happens when bodies go rogue, and when kind words become their own special form of cruelty.

Cancer is never easy to speak about. It’s especially hard when you have cancer. And when you have cancer, it turns out that many of the things people say about cancer are not all that helpful. So what can one hold onto during the dizzying, discombobulating experiences of diagnosis and treatment, chemo brain and chronic pain?

Written as much for herself as to plug a gap in South African writing about cancer, Moonsamy chronicles her journey in this archly funny and acerbic sequence of poems, full of wordplay, linguistic shock and deep introspection. A cathartic, invigorating literary experience.

Nedine Moonsamy was born in Johannesburg in 1983. She is an associate professor in the English department at the University of Johannesburg. She researches science fiction in Africa and is currently writing a monograph on contemporary South African fiction.

Her 2019 debut novel, The Unfamous Five was shortlisted for the 2021 HSS Fiction Award, and her poetry was shortlisted for the inaugural 2021 New Contrast National Poetry Award. This is her first book of poetry.

Oh, Yes I Can, Cer releases on 7 September 2026 in South Africa.

Athambile Masola's Ilifa now out in English from Batis Books

We’re proud to announce that Ilifa, the award-winning debut collection in isiXhosa by Athambile Masola, is now out in English translation in the UK, Ireland and SA from Batis Books. The book is published in a dual-language isiXhosa-English edition.

The book can be purchased directly from the publisher in the UK and Ireland from the Batis Books website, or in South Africa from Mzansi Books. The book is also available in all good bookstores.

The book is launching in May 2026 in Cape Town and June 2026 in Johannesburg, See here for more details.

Announcing Stockholm Cosmologies

uHlanga is proud to announce the release of Stockholm Cosmologies, an art book published by Liljevalchs, the premier contemporary art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, and distributed exclusively in South Africa by uHlanga.

Stockholm Cosmologies brings together fifteen fine artists working across media and active in multiple geographies, spanning Scandinavia, Africa, and its diaspora. Stockholm Cosmologies looks at the concept of cosmology as a poetic and political model for how artists relate to the world, time, place, material, and to one another.

The book also brings art into discussion with the work of various writers, including uHlanga poets Maneo Mohale, Mantiphe Moila, Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal, Nick Mulgrew, Sihle Ntuli and Lindiwe Mabuza.

To celebrate our collaboration, Liljevalchs has made 80 copies available in South Africa, for only R460 each. Order one through your local bookstore, or directly from us via our friends at Mzansi Books.

Find out more about the book here.