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2010 M-Net and Via Afrika Literary Award Winners

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 25 Aug 2010   |   

The M.E.R. Prize was established in 1983 and is awarded annually by M-Net and Via Afrika in two distinct categories. A prize is awarded to the best illustrated children’s book and another to the best youth novel published during the previous year. The only condition is that the books must be aimed at younger readers and that the authors and illustrators must be South African citizens. The award is named after MER (Mimie E. Rothmann 1875-1975), for her groundbreaking work in the field of children’s literature. No distinction is made between English and Afrikaans books.

2010 M-Net/Via Afrika Literary Award Winners – MER Prizes

The M.E.R Prize for best youth novel – The Bird of Heaven

The M.E.R Prize for best illustrated children’s book – In the Never-ever Wood

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MER Prize Winner for Youth Literature

An explorer of inner and outer spaces, the author Peter Dunseith lives in the magical Umbuluzi valley in the Kingdom of Swaziland. After practising for thirty years as a human rights lawyer and champion of the underdog, and a three year stint as the judge president of the Industrial Court of Swaziland, he has recently embarked on a new career in alternative medicine. His first novel The Bird of Heaven reveals his fascination with the myths and rituals that denote the cultural soul of the Swazi people.

Young Adult Fiction

Writer: Peter Dunseith

Publisher by Tafelberg Publishers in 2009

The plot follows the training and growth in power of Mandla, son of Ingwe.

Although it is superficially a fantasy adventure with some magic realism thrown in, it also deals with archetypes representing the struggle between innocence and corruption; transition from boyhood to manhood; the relationship between a boy and his distant father (a leopard in the body of a man); self-empowerment through the gifts of our ancestors (the muti bag); and the transcendent victory of a noble spirit (the lightning bird).

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MER Prize Winners for Illustrated Children’s Literature

Linda Rode was born on 3 July 1937 at Ladismith, Western Cape.
She matriculated at the Hoërskool Langenhoven in Riversdal in 1954 and
studied at Stellenbosch University, where she obtained an Honours degree in German and a Teacher’s Diploma (1963).
a-Bird-3.jpgShe taught school in Calvinia, in Hermannsburg, at the Pionierskool in Worcester (school for the blind) and at Herzlia in Cape Town and works as a free-lance translator for publishers.
Linda is married to Erwin Rode. They live in Bellville and have two children. 1989: MER Prize for Goue fluit, my storie is uit and Tienie Holloway – medal
Goue Lint, My Storie Begint: Voorleesverhale En Verse Vir Kleintjies

Fiona Moodie was born in Cape Town on 6th May, 1952. She grew up on an apple farm in Elgin . She obtained a BA degree from UCT in 1971 and later a Secondary Teacher’s Diploma from the same university.

After university Fiona left South Africa for Europe. She taught English in Madrid and travelled in Greece, living for a while in an uninhabited monastery on the island of Siphnos and drawing.

She had always wanted to write and illustrate children’s books and with her parents’ support she was able to attend the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (1975). By chance in Paris she met an Austrian book illustrator who advised her to go to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair with a portfolio of work. At Bologna she met several encouraging editors and many European illustrators. As a result in 1976 she began living outside a small village called Rugolo in Northern Italy, in the farm house of the Czech film animator and illustrator Stephan Zavrel. His home was an open house for artists who came to stay and work for various periods. There Fiona Moodie learned about illustrating and making books and has illustrating children’s books ever since.

In the Never-ever Wood

Retold by Linda Rode

Illustrated by Fiona Moodie

Published by Tafelberg Publishers in 2009

Here are sixty stories, selected and retold by fairy-tale lover and compiler of children’s books Linda Rode.
It is a comprehensive collection that will open up the wide, wide world of fairy tales and other folklore to children.
A short annotation at the end of each story points out the land of origin and puts the stories from Africa, Europe, the East and other parts of the world in context with one another.

Fiona Moodie’s evocative illustrations are drypoint etches printed by hand and painted afterwards – an intricate process that took more than two years to complete.

(English translation by Elsa Silke)

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Invitation to nominate books published in 2008 and 2009 for the Katrine Harries Award

The Katrine Harries Award that originally was the only and most prestigious award in South Africa for children’s book illustrations, and that has been dormant for the past six years, will soon be awarded again. The award that was made for the first time in the early 1960′s by the SA Library Association and later the South African Institute for Library and Information Science (SAILIS) has been awarded to South Africa’ s most well-known illustrators: Katrine Harries personally received the award twice before it was named after her. Thereafter Niki Daly, Joan Rankin, Alida Bothma, Cora Coetzee, Jeremy Grimsdell (and others) have received it with Emily Bornhoff finally receiving it in 2008.

All publishers, illustrators and other interested parties are invited to nominate books published in 2008 and 2009.

Please send your nominations asap to: Thomas van der Walt, Children’s Literature Research Unit, UNISA – vdwaltb@unisa.ac.za

Book details

• The Bird of Heaven by Peter Dunseith
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780624045571
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• In the Never-Ever Wood by Linda Rode, illustrated by Fiona Moodie
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  EAN: 9780624047681
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Peter Martin Reviews A Uniquely South African Story

by Bontle on 11 Aug 2010   |   

My Name is Vaselinetjie by Anoeschka von Meck

This is a funny and somewhat violent tale about Northern Cape teenager Helena Bosman, who is sent to a children’s home in faraway Gauteng. She insists that everyone calls her by her nickname, Vaselinetjie, and she lives with her Ouma and Oupa, but welfare officers insist she has to go to the home, and the adventures begin.

Translated from the Afrikaans best-seller and loosely based on real-life characters, the story is filled with Afrikaans slang words (which are explained at the end of the book). The reader meets all Vaselinetjie’s schoolmates – some are friendly and nice to her, but most are exactly the opposite. Nicknames abound – Killer, Pizzaface, Puck, Albie, Kitkat – and those are just the girls, which gives the reader an idea of the type of children Helena had to mix with.

Vaseline (as she became known) takes some time to settle down in her new surroundings and it’s not too long before she has to be on the alert and watch her back.

• Read the complete reviews

Book details

• My Name is Vaselinetjie by Anoeschka von Meck
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780624046585
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Kule Veki isiXhosa Sifundela Ulutsha

by Bontle on 21 Jul 2010   |   

Lo mdlalo ungothando phakathi kwababini, ulonwabo nobunzima basemhlabeni. Umbhali uyasibonisa ngokuphandle ukuba ukuzicingela wedwa nokunyoluka kuyatshabalalisa. Ukwaphinde asibonise ukuba umoya womntu uyakwazi ukuphumelela naxa ubomi buneendzingo.

This well-loved author demonstrates for us that selfishness and greed are ultimately pointless and self-destructive, while at the same time proving that the human spirit can triumph through the harshest of life’s experiences.

Yet another Xhosa classic from the pen of W.K. Tamsanqa, this riveting historical novel is about hope, striving, suffering and triumph, and will absorb readers from the very first page.

Kwakhona nabu obunye ubuchule bencwadi yesixhosa esuka kusiba lwesandla sika WK Tamsanqa, le noveli esibuyisela emva ngembhali imalunga nethemba, inzame, intlupheko kunye nempumelelo, kwaye iyakutsala abafundi kwakwiphepha nje lokuqala. Iindlela ezenzekayo zolwazi kunye nembali yexabiso yale noveli yenza ukuba ibenesiseko ekufundeni kubo bonke abafundi kunye nokubalasela kokuzikhethela kwoncwadi kwizikolo.

Book details

• Kusa Kusihlwa: Inoveli namanqakwana by KS Bongela
  EAN: 9780636072961
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• Nyana wam! Nyana wam! by WK Tamsanqa
  EAN: 9780636072978
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Boy vs Girl Author Talks About her New Book and Writing for Teens

by Bontle on 21 Jul 2010   |   

Na’ima B. Robert is a South African Muslim woman and writer. She’s descended from the Scottish Highlanders on her father’s side and the Zulu people on her mother’s side and grew up in Zimbabwe. Coming from a rich and mixed background lead her to be interested in culture and the perceptions of Islam and Muslim culture.

Her new book, Boy vs Girl was inspired when Robert became interested in “seeing the double standards between how boys are raised and how girls are raised, for example, boys going out at night and no one questioning them as to where they’re going and with whom, whereas with girls, they need to have a chaperone.” In an interview with Robert, she talks candidly about writing for young people and the challenges of being a young Muslim in a modern world.