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The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing (UJ Prize) in English has announced the winners for both the Debut and the Main Prize categories.

Following a rigorous adjudication process, in which five judges drawn from three universities evaluated a wide range of books published in 2025, this year’s adjudication panel comprised the following members: Prof Nedine Moonsamy (Chair), University of Johannesburg; Prof Sikhumbuzo Mngadi, University of Johannesburg; Prof Marzia Milazzo, University of Johannesburg; Prof Rebecca Fasselt, University of Pretoria; and Dr Wisani Mushwana, University of Cape Town.

The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing, commonly called the UJ Prize, was established in 2006 to recognise South African writers, regardless of whether they have a connection to the university. It is an annual literary award administered by the University of Johannesburg. Past winners of the prize include: Mandla Langa, Jacob Dlamini, Gabeba Baderoon, Lesego Rampolokeng, Nthikeng Mohlele, Craig Higginson, Zakes Mda, Lauren Beukes, and others

Commenting on the process, Prof. Nedine Moonsamy, Chair of the Judges, said:

“The quality of submissions was exceptionally high and offered a reassuring view of the contemporary South African literary landscape. As usual, we have read across genres to select our winners.”

The 2026 UJ Prize winners according to their categories are: 

Debut Prize Winner

• The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women by Michelle Kekana

The judges were unanimous in their decision that The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women is a striking debut worthy of this year’s award. The novel offers a raw and refreshing portrait of Black South African women with luminous, experimental profundity.

In Michelle Kekana’s debut, three thoroughly modern South African women find themselves brought to breaking point as they navigate the complexities of life, love and mental health. Utterly engrossing from the first page, The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women is a bold exploration of what it means to be ‘strong’.

Michelle Myeko Kekana is a former teacher and an eternal student. She is an essayist who has been featured in two anthologies, writing about how politics affect the social lives of ordinary people in a post-Mandela South Africa. She is a 2021 writing fellow for the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Studies, JIAS. The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women is Kekana’s debut novel where she examines the lifelong, sometimes complex relationship that people with mental illness have with their minds.

Main Prize Winner

• Griefseed by Malika Lueen Ndlovu

Published by Karavan Press (2025), Griefseed, as explained by feminist literary scholar and author Barbara Boswell, is:

“a gift, an offering from the pen of Malika Ndlovu that seeks to transform the ways we think about and process grief. Multidisciplinary in scope, the text includes poems, personal essays, images, and reflections on grief that punctuate the life story of the poet, offered here as medicine. These creative pieces function as both a window onto an individual woman’s life as she has journeyed with, through and beyond grief; as well as a mirror, inviting the reader to see their own lives and losses reflected within Ndlovu’s.”

In his words of appreciation, jury member Marzia Milazzo said: 

“Ndlovu reminds us that grief must be expressed and invites us, as she writes, to ‘Let the wound weep.” 

Malika Lueen Ndlovu is an internationally published South African poet, playwright, performer and arts project manager. For several years, she was the live festival and online curator/presenter for the Africa Centre’s Badilisha Poetry X-Change, which pioneered an exclusively African poetry podcasting platform. As a founder-member of Cape Town-based women writers’ collective WEAVE (1998–2004), she co-edited WEAVE’s Ink @ Boiling Point: A selection of 21st Century Black Women’s writing from the Southern Tip of Africa. In 2004, she initiated And The Word Was Woman Ensemble. 

Her poetry collections include Born in Africa but (1999), Womb to World: A Labour of Love (2001), Truth is Both Spirit and Flesh (2008), Invisible Earthquake: A woman’s journal through stillbirth (2009), and CLOSE (2017). Her published plays are A Coloured Place (1998) and Sister Breyani (2010). She features prominently in Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets, 2000–2018 (UKZN Press, 2019), edited by Makhosazana Xaba, and in Collaborative Conversations: Celebrating twenty-one years of The Mothertongue Project, edited by Alex Halligey and Sara Matchett (Modjaji Books, 2021).

All three nominees in each category will receive certificates of recognition. 

Congratulations to the winners and the nominees!