herStoriA deputy editor DELIA ROTHNIE-JONES explores the rewards of literary prizes
THE recent death of the CNA Literary Award means that another window of opportunity for writers has been boarded up. Soon we shall be left only with peep-holes into our country’s soul. Faced with this withering of literary activity, we are forced to ask ourselves, “Who cares?”
Booksellers tell us that non-fiction is preferred to fiction by the South African public. Publishing houses tell us that overseas writers are bought in preference to local writers by that same public. Editors tell us that would-be novelists often haven’t read their own country’s writers. Awards are one way of stirring this sluggish interest, but sometimes it seems like a tough call.
Last year herStoriA, the first and (to date) only women’s literary journal in this country, ran its own competition, and we glimpsed some fascinating corners of the country’s mind.
We asked for short stories up to 3 000 words in length. The only rule was that the main character had to be a woman. We agonised over whether the competition should be open to women only. Finally we decided to throw it open to men as well, mainly because we were unhappy with exclusive feminism – it is perfectly possible to have a feminist man.
In fact, the idea for a women’s literary journal came from a man. Jon Duarte, who was working at the Congress of South African Writers (Cosaw) at the time, saw a gap for a feminist publishing venture in South Africa and discussed it with Sandra Braude, a Cosaw colleague with a long career in teaching and editing. In 1995 Braude launched herStoriA.
Aside from the fine principles of equality, we also had a niggling fear that if we cut out men, we would not have a big enough pot from which to pluck a winner. But the last three weeks before the cut-off date saw a rush of well-written, thoughtful work.
From there it was over to our two judges, Jenny Hobbs and Maureen Isaacson. Finally they came up with four winners -and the top two were men! After Graeme Friedman and Johnny Masilela’s contributions came those by Arja Salafranca and Natasha Distiller.
The subjects of the stories were diverse, but all reflected a sense of loss -a loss that sometimes became a gain. The loss of faith in a spouse meant leaving a husband (Friedman’s Marilyn’s Dress) but gaining self-esteem; the supposed loss of a mother’s sanity was made bearable to the son by gaining knowledge of her strength in her early married days (Masilela’s A Grain of Sorghum).
The prizewinners appeared in our last (summer) issue, and others from the shortlist will appear over the next two issues.
Fired by a perhaps quixotic faith that stories have an irreplaceable role in a nation’s culture, we hope to continue to run our award. Right now we’re looking for a sponsor to put up R3 000 in prizes for the next one.
Not a lot for a peephole into our country’s soul.
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