Getting with the season

Time to kick back

1. African crime fiction on the up

2. More on the African fiction market

3. The winners of the Sunday Times awards

4. The SA book market grows

5. The writing career - a must read

6. Seasons greetings

1. This is my last Substack for the year. It’s got a lot of links and it’s heavy on crime but then I’m a crime writer. Up first is a “discussion” about the past, present and future of African crime writing led by Michael Sears (who writes krimis under the name Michael Stanley with co-author Stanley Trollip).

2. Next is a clutch of Catalyst Press authors giving their take on the African fiction market for the 2025 #ReadingAfrica week, which happened last week.

3. The prestigious Sunday Times awards were made recently. The fiction winner was Shubnum Khan (The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil, Pan Macmillan) and Khumisho Moguerane took the nonfiction with Morafe: Person, Family and Nation in Colonial Bechuanaland, 1880s–1950s (Jacana Media).

4. Some good news is that the SA market for local books grew by 4% with locally published titles making up around 27% of the total market, according to a recent PenguinRandomHouse newsletter.

5. One of the best Substacks I’ve read about “the writing career” appeared a week back from author Tasmina Perry. If you are hovering on the edge of publishing, have a read of her down-to-earth assessment. The time of the “career author” might well be over, but it has opened up many other opportunities for writers. You can read her newsletter here.

6. The end of the year approaches so time to chill. In the coming downtime, I shall be rereading my book of the year - The Darkening Age - the Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey. It’s a vivid account of centuries of destruction told with caustic verve. Seasons greeting until Wednesday 14 January 2026.