Paperight is proud to announce the release of the Paperight Young Writers’ Anthology 2013, a new multilingual literary anthology of original short stories, essays, poetry and illustrations by South African high school students.
Compiled from the very best work from thousands of submissions – in English, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and Afrikaans – the Anthology collates and celebrates a new generation of South African writers and artists.
“The Paperight Young Writers’ Anthology was conceived as a way for us to help spark a culture of writing in our country, in the places where it must be allowed to grow – our schools,” said Anthology editor Sibabalwe Oscar Masinyana.
The Anthology features a foreword by award-winning writer Niq Mhlongo, author of Dog Eat Dog, After Tears, and, most recently, Way Back Home. “Everyone has a story inside their heads,” Mhlongo writes in the Anthology. “But the challenge is how to get it out in a way that will make other people want to read them.”
The Anthology is therefore a book curated and designed to be a serious piece of literature and an expression of the concerns of South Africa’s youth, said Masinyana. But most crucially, he added, “we looked for work that did not fall back on clichéd voices and narratives and instead chose works that exhibited promising maturity and individuality.”
From over a thousand submissions, 65 young writers were selected to appear in the Anthology. Then, one overall winner in each category was selected by a panel of esteemed judges, including poet and academic Sarah Rowan, Dr Hedley Twidle of the UCT Department of English Language and Literature, Professor Russell Kaschula of Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网’s School of Languages, and art curator Gabi Ngcobo.
These winners are:
• Poetry: James Sulter (St John’s College, Johannesburg)
• Short fiction: Jenna Solomon (German International School, Cape Town)
• Essay: Triston Liebenberg (Bergvliet High School, Cape Town)
• Illustration: Chad van Heerden (Eden College, Durban).
The Young Writers’ Anthology is published by Paperight, a nationwide network of independent copy shops and bookstores that print books on-demand quickly and legally. Paperight is funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation.
“Many of the people using our network are high school students, buying matric study guides and past exam papers,” said Paperight founder and CEO Arthur Attwell. “The Anthology is a way for us to engage with these learners and find talented young writers among them. Now it’s blossomed into a rich piece of literature in its own right.”
The Young Writers’ Anthology will be available from the 10th of June through Paperight registered outlets and selected independent bookstores. To find your closest outlet, visit www.paperight.com/outlets. The Paperight Edition of the Anthology will cost approximately R60, depending on the printing charges of the individual outlet.
The Anthology includes details about how to submit for next year’s edition. Reviewers can request copies from Paperight at team@paperight.com or 021 671 1278.