Kwela Books


Kwela Books is a South African publishing house founded in Cape Town in 1994 as a new imprint of NB Publishers.

1994-2004

In the first ten years it published several books.

Notable publications

Kafka's Curse by Achmat DangorBitter Fruit by Achmat DangorUnderground People by Lewis NkosiThe Quiet Violence of Dreams by K. Sello Duiker, 2001Shark's Egg by Henrietta Rose-Innes, 2000Vatmaar by A.H.M. Scholtz, Confessions of a Gambler by Rayda Jacobs, 20XX - winner of The Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2004Ons is nie almal so nie by Jeanne GoosenKleur kom nooit alleen nie by Antjie Krog

2004-present

Post 2004 Kwela continued to publish, winning several awards.

Notable publications

Dog Eat Dog by Niq Mhlongo, 2004 - winner of the 2005 Mar des Lettras Prize All We Have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case, 2006 - winner of 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, Africa Region and joint winner of the 2007 Herman [Charles Bosman Prize] for English Fiction. Behind Every Successful Man by Zukiswa Wanner, 2008 - The Dream in the Next Body by Gabeba Baderoon, 2005 - winner of the 2005 Daimler-Chrysler Prize. The Rowing Lesson by Anne Landsman, 2008 - winner of The Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2009. Happiness is a Four-Letter Word by Cynthia Jele, 2010 - winner of 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, Africa Region and the M-Net Film Prize 2011 at the M-Net Literary Awards. Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart by Finuala Dowling, 2011 - winner of the M-Net Prize for English Fiction 2012. Young Blood by Sifiso Mzobe, 2010 - winner of The Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2011, the 2010 Herman Charles Bosman Prize for English Fiction, the SALARoom 207 by Kgebetli Moele, 2006 - joint winner of the 2007 Herman Charles Bosman Prize for English Fiction and the University of Johannesburg Prize for debut fiction. Die staat teen Anna Bruwer by Anchien Troskie, 2012The Lazarus Effect by H. J. Golakai, 2011 - shortlisted for The Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2012.Moss by Mary Watson, 2004 - Siegfreid by Willem Anker, 2007 - winner of Ancient Rites by Diale Tlholwe - winner of the SALABeauty's Gift by Sindiwe Magona, 2008 -Small Moving Parts by Sally-Ann Murray, 2009 - winner of the M-Net Prize for English Fiction 2010It Doesn't Have to Be This Way by Alistair Mackay, 2022 - longlisted for the 2022 British [Science Fiction Association Award] for best novel, listed as one of Brittle Paper's 100 Notable African Books of 2022.